"...And the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick  darkness."
.......Deuteronomy 4:11

" And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." 
......Deuteronomy 4:12-13

1978

In 1978 Ron Wyatt found chariot parts in the Gulf of Aqaba just off the Egyptian shore. At that time, he knew that Mt. Sinai had to be on the opposite shore. Since the Biblical account tells how the people arrived at Mt. Sinai after they crossed the Red Sea; and since the Gulf of Aqaba, which Ron knew to be the crossing site, separates the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) and Saudi Arabia, there was no doubt as to the location of Mt. Sinai being in Arabia. But where in Arabia? 

Ron studied the Biblical account and saw on the flight maps of the area that there was a mountain range in the northwestern area of Saudi which he felt had the potential to be Mt. Sinai. 

"The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying,
Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount"
.......Deuteronomy 1:6 

This description indicated to Ron that the people were "in" a mountain range - protected within its borders. And for that reason, Jebel el Lawz was the perfect candidate. On the map, Jebel el Lawz was the highest peak in the entire NW Saudi Arabian region; and it was in a mountain range with numerous wide wadis, or canyons, within it which would have provided enough acreage for a tremendous number of people, along with their flocks and herds, to camp "within" the area and have the protection of the mountains all around them. It was also separated from the mountainous region which paralleled the Red Sea, by a desert, or plain area - which could be the desert of Sin(ai). 

Mt. Sinai's Location in Midian

If we go the Bible, the location of Mt. Sinai is not that difficult to ascertain. When God first spoke to Moses regarding the great work of leading the people out of their Egyptian bondage, He told Moses: 

" Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain."
.......EXODUS 3:12 

To find out exactly where Moses was when this conversation took place, we need to go to the beginning of chapter 3: 

"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." 
.......EXODUS 3:1-2 

Moses was even told to remove his shoes, as he was standing on "holy ground" (verse 5). So, we now know that Moses was in Midian, in the "backside of the desert", which seems to us to imply the area opposite the main portion of the desert or, the other side of the mountain which provided the border of the desert. We make this assumption simply because in order to have a "backside of the desert", there must be something which marks a separation of the "frontside" and the "backside". 

When Ron studied the Biblical account, he noted these references - that the mountain to which Moses was to lead the people was in Midian; and that the place where Moses spoke to God in the burning bush was specifically stated to be in the "backside of the desert". With this information, along with the discovery of the crossing site on the Gulf of Aqaba, he looked for a mountain on the eastern side of the gulf which fit this description. There was only one candidate in his opinion, and this was Jebel el Lawz. 

Map of Gulf of Aquaba Region

His flight maps showed this mountain to be in an almost semi-circular range, with a vast desert area around it as well as more than enough room for the encampment of perhaps a couple of million people along with their flocks and herds. Not only that, but there was a single, large oasis located perhaps 10 to 15 miles away - an area that could have been the home of his father-in-law, Jethro - and this was the town of Al-Bad. 

He saw that there was desert area around Jebel el Lawz, between Al-Bad and the highest peak in this mountain range - and that there were valleys in the mountain range which Moses could have led his flocks through, taking him to the "backside of the desert." Ron was convinced that this mountain had to be the one. 

If this mountain was indeed the true Mt. Sinai, Ron felt there had to be archaeological evidences which would prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. So he applied to the Saudi embassy for a visa to visit the area but never even received an answer from them. 

After four and one half years, he decided it was going to be necessary to attempt to enter the country without a visa. He made inquiries and was told that if anyone was found in Saudi without a visa, they were simply escorted to the border and "kicked out" - if "worse came to worse", they would be held for no more than 21 days. He weighed this information and decided it was certainly worth the risk. Little did he know what lay ahead for him and his sons, Danny and Ronny. 

Ron enters Saudi Arabia

January 24, 1984 

Ron made a decision to enter Saudi without legal permission. 

Ron and his sons arrived in Jordan - they had applied and received a Jordanian visa prior to leaving the U.S. They toured Jordan a bit and then parked their rental car near the border and walked into Saudi undetected. 

Hitchhiking and hiring taxis, they arrived near Jebel el Lawz, where Ron saw white pillars lying on the ground, the sun reflecting off the white stone. 

MARBLE COLUMNS NEAR THE ALTAR
"Twelve Pillars According to the Twelve Tribes of Israel"

And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
.......EXODUS 24:4 

Ron believed that these were pieces of a "shrine" that had once sat near the altar. There were at least 10 pieces of broken, round columns almost 23 inches in diameter. They varied in height from 8 inches to 26 inches. 

In addition, there were a large number of rectangular marble stones 8 1/4 inches by 16 ½ inches, from 10 to 26 inches long. These pieces were found around the altar, while others lay scattered at a greater distance, and are not included in our count.

He believed this had to be the site of Mt. Sinai and he saw the entire top of the mountain to be blackened as if charred. He noted several features of the site which identified the area.

As Ron surveyed the region around the mountain, he saw that here was an area that perfectly fit the description of Mt. Sinai (Horeb) - there were thousands of acres of land surrounded by a mountain range which enclosed the area. He was convinced that this was it! But as they got nearer the base of the mountain, a small truck pulled up and the man inside brusquely told Ron and the boys' driver to take them back to where their taxi was waiting for them, which he did. They then got back into this taxi and headed to the Jordanian border. 

When they arrived at the border, things didn't go so well. As they attempted to exit the country, they were abruptly arrested and taken to a jail in Hagl. They were being charged with espionage. 

Ron and the boys were separately questioned day after day by a group called the Interrogation Team. They each told their story - of their belief and reasons for that belief, that Mt. Sinai was Jebel el Lawz. One Saudi official, Abu Collet, sent men out to the mountain to determine if any evidence was actually there, but the men came back with a negative report, which was sent to the King. 

There were some among the interrogators, however, who believed Ron.  One day three Saudis took Ron on a trip in a helicopter to the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba where Ron claimed the great multitude had crossed the sea. The helicopter landed on the beach directly opposite Nuweiba, Egypt. 

It wasn't too difficult to find the right area because Nuweiba is easily seen across the 8 mile gulf.  Landing there, on the beach they found a Phoenician-style, granite column erected on the shore, with inscriptions in archaic Hebrew. 

The Saudis took numerous photographs of this column, and Ron suddenly had a little more credibility with his jailers. Archaic Hebrew simply isn't found in Saudi Arabia and here was some very concrete evidence. In fact, it is possible that this column literally saved Ron and the boys' lives. No one in Saudi had known about the column as it was in an extremely remote, uninhabited area. But even this column didn't insure their release. However, it did match the column Ron had found in 1978 on the opposite shore in Egypt - only this one had the inscriptions on it! 

Only upon their release, after 75 days, did they learn that a man whom Ron had told of his plans to enter Saudi illegally, had called the Saudi embassy and told them that the Wyatts were actually Israeli spies. The Saudis told Ron this man's name when they were released. 

 A "Royal Prince" comes to Nashville

Ron hadn't been home too long when he received a phone call from a man who said he was a friend of some of Ron's captors. Samran Al-Motairy was a close relation of the king - he was considered "royalty", and he had heard of Ron's claim that Mt. Sinai was in his region. There had been several of Ron's captors who had believed Ron's claim, and they had convinced Samran, who lived in Tabuk, just a couple of hours from the mountain. Samran told Ron over the phone that ever since he had heard about this mountain, he couldn't eat, sleep or concentrate on anything - he had to see it for himself. Samran even came to Nashville and spent several days with Ron to discuss the matter and convince Ron to return to Saudi. 

Samran had the connections - Ron had the knowledge of this most holy site. Together, they could "discover" this site, maybe even make a movie and be famous. These were Samran's desires.

Ron's desire was to document the evidence. And Samran's proposal seemed the ideal way to get the evidence. The hard part would be to get Ron back into the country, but Samran said he could do it. And it was just eleven months after his and the boys' release from prison in Saudi that he would return to Jebel el Lawz - legally. 

March 31, 1985

A contract was drawn up between Samran el-Mutairy, Ron Wyatt and Dave Fasold, who was to travel with Ron into Saudi Arabia. The reason there had to be a contract such as this is because in order for any foreigners to work in the Kingdom, they must have a valid business arrangement with a Saudi resident. It was signed by all three.  

Ron Wyatt, David Fasold and Samran el-Mutairy flew to Jedda, and then to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia where Samran lives. The next morning they traveled to the site of Jebel el Lawz, with a driver and a laborer accompanying them. 

Over view of Rephidim as 
seen from the top of Mt. Sinai

With Ron giving them directions to the area, they made some wrongs turns. A Bedouin appeared and they asked him where Jebel el Lawz was. He answered, as Dave Fasold remembers, with "Jebel Musa henna" - which means, "Moses' mountain is here"! Amazingly, the local tradition recognized this as the right place! 

The next morning an Interrogation Team, headed by Abu Collet was to meet Ron and David at the mountain. 

Arriving at the site, Ron, Dave and Samran showed the men all the evidences - the altar with the Egyptian-style petroglyphs of cows and bulls; the altar at the base of the mountain; the tops of the 18 foot diameter columns erected 5 feet apart; the marble columns, etc.

After a few days, an archaeologist was flown in from Rhiydh University to Samran's. The evidence was so compelling now that this was determined a necessity. Ron and Dave told him about all the evidence out at the mountain, and they played Dave's video of the golden calf altar and the petroglyphs on the TV. Although they have the PAL system, Dave's NTSC tape played the video in black and white without audio. As they showed him the archaeological evidences, he was very excited about the pictures of Egyptian-style cows and bulls on the golden calf altar and told them that this style petroglyph was not found anywhere else in Saudi Arabia.

He had been working somewhere south of this area and was completely surprised to find out this sort of archaeological evidence was in the area. "This is a major discovery!, he said. Several times he shook Ron's hand and congratulated him on the discovery.

 A Meeting with Riyadh University

View of the "Holy Area" at the foot of Mt. Sinai

The Traditional Mt. Sinai
In the Sinai Peninsula?

St. Catherine's Monastery

The Area proclaimed by the mother of Constantine to be Mt. Sinai

The traditional location in the Sinai Peninsula didn't "come into being" until almost 2,000 years after the Exodus: 

"The origin of the present Monastery of Saint Catherine on the NW slope of Jebel Musa is traced back to A.D. 527, when Emperor Justinian established it on the site where Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, had erected a small church two centuries earlier." (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, p. 376.) 

"There is no Jewish tradition of the geographical location of Mt. Sinai; it seems that its exact location was obscure already in the time of the monarchy....The Christian hermits and monks, mostly from Egypt, who settled in Southern Sinai from the second century C.E. on, made repeated efforts to identify the locality of the Exodus with actual places to which the believers could make their way as pilgrims. The identification of Mt. Sinai either with Jebel Sirbal near the oasis of Firan...,or with Jebel Musa, can be traced back as far as the fourth century C.E.". (The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 14, p. 1599.) 

In 1761-1767, Von Haven, the member of a Danish expedition to the traditional site wrote, as reported in "Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1971-1767, by Thorkild Hansen: 

"I have observed earlier that we could not possibly be at Mount Sinai. The monastery [of St. Catherine] was situated in a narrow valley, which was not even large enough for a medium-sized army to be able to camp in, let alone the 600,000 men that Moses had with him, who, together with their wives and children, must have come to over 3,000,000." 

The Sinai Peninsula = Egyptian Territory

The fact is clear that the Sinai Peninsula was always considered to be Egyptian territory. There is an abundance of evidence that the Egyptians controlled the Sinai Peninsula during the time of the Exodus because of their mining operations there. This archaeological evidence is still present and evident today. The peninsula today doesn't even have any population to speak of except those who live around the few oases, many of which today contain the gasoline stations for travelers. 

In "Arabia and the Bible" by James Montgomery, we read on p. 31: "...the land west of a line from the Wady of Egypt to the Elanitic Gulf [Gulf of Aqaba] has always belonged to the Egyptian political sphere, and actually that is the present boundary of Egypt....the South-Arabians called the same region Msr, i.e. Misraim, Egypt." 

The Evidence at the Mountain
Biblical description of Mt. Sinai

The first thing Ron noticed when he saw Jebel el Lawz in 1984, just prior to his arrest, was that the high peak of the mountain range was distinctly black. When one stands at the base of the mountain - just outside the boundary markers which we will discuss a little later, the high peak that can be seen looks like it is made of coal. 

The blackened peak of Mt. Sinai

" And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire" 
.......EXODUS 19:18 

" And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly...." 
.......EXODUS 19:18 

" And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off." 
.......EXODUS 20:18 

" The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel."
.......JUDGES 5:5 

" The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel." 
.......PSALMS 68:8 

The Golden Calf Altar

As we said, the evidence which caused the Saudi archaeologist to say that this was a major archaeological discovery, was the petroglyphs on the altar which is located east of the holy precinct - in fact, from the top of the mountain, looking down toward the sacred area, this altar is almost directly straight ahead. But it is perhaps a mile or more from the base of the mountain. As we read the Biblical account of the event, we can see that this site fits the description given perfectly: 

 Rephidim - The Rock at Horeb

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 
.......EXODUS 17:6

Just over the western side of the mountain range, opposite the Holy Precinct, these is an area which features an incredible, five to six-story rock perched upon a hill that is about 200 feet high.

The Rock at Horeb

This rock is split through the middle and displays the pattern of water erosion and evidence that numerous streams came forth in several directions. 

The Altar

About 200 yards from this rock, is another altar constructed of stones.

"And Moses built an altar....."
.......EXODUS 17:15
This area also features an immense plain area in which the battle with the Amalekites could have taken place.

Elim

Twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there.

A large number of Wells

While exploring the site in 1985 with Samran and his work crew, they found very large wells, with just a few inches extending above the ground.  There was a line of these which extended along the lake bordering the "holy precinct".

We Discovered It

Recently, there are those who have claimed to have "discovered" Mount Sinai.  The truth is that they discovered it exactly where Ron Wyatt did several years before they got there.  

Major "Christian" television networks have aired programs produced by their own production associates.  Each time they do, we here at the Museum receive numerous telephone calls from angry people who recognize that the truth is not being presented. 

The network has been contacted as well as the producer of the programs.  They are fully aware of the fact that Ron made the discovery years before, yet they refuse to make that fact plain.

Truly, the love of money is the root of all evil.

There is nothing that Wyatt Archaeological Research can do about this situation; but there is something that you can do.  Turn that network off and tell others that they should do likewise.