MT. SINAI IS NOT AT JEBEL EL-LAWZ IN SAUDI ARABIA
Problems with the Jebel al-Lawz location view The biggest problem with the identification of Jebel al-Lawz as Mt. Sinai is that it does not meet the Biblical criteria for the site. In my Bible and Spade article I point out three questionable assumptions made by the proponents of Jebel al-Lawz.
http://www.ldolphin.org/franz-ellawz.html
excerpt:
Thursday, November 15, 2001, 9:50-10:30 a.m. session
Broadmoor Hotel
Colorado Springs, CO
The last ten years has witnessed the proliferation of books, videos, websites and television programs that have proposed a new site for Mt. Sinai * Jebel al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia. They also told about underwater searches for Pharaoh's chariots and weapons from the Egyptian army. This paper examines three aspects of the identification of Mt. Sinai in Saudi Arabia. First, the paper questions the credibility of the claims. Second, the paper disputes the false assumptions by the proponents of Jebel al-Lawz. Third, the paper examines the archaeological evidence.
This paper discusses the first two aspects briefly because they have already been dealt with in the Fall 2000 issue of Bible and Spade (Franz 2000:101-113). That article is posted on Lambert Dolphin's website. (
http://www.ldolphin.org/franz-sinai.html). A revised form of this paper will appear as an article in Bible and Spade.
The paper discusses the third aspect, the archaeological evidence, in more detail. The questions dealt with include, 1) Are the archaeological remains that were observed by the proponents of Jebel al-Lawz credible? And 2) Does the remains match the Biblical text? The final section of this paper deals with the location of the Red Sea crossing. Was it in the Gulf of Akaba / Eilat or the Gulf of Suez?
I believe that this paper, along with the Bible and Spade article, will conclusively demonstrated that there is no credible historical, geographical, archaeological or Biblical evidence to support the thesis that Mt. Sinai is at Jebel al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia.
The Proponents of Jebel al-Lawz as Mt. Sinai
Ron Wyatt first proposed the idea that Mt. Sinai was at Jebel al-Lawz.
Whatever one may think of Ron Wyatt's "discoveries," he should be given full credit for this discovery.
However, I would like to call your attention to a recent book examining the claims of Ron Wyatt. It is entitled Holy Relics or Revelation, by two SDA researchers, Russell and Colin Standish. (Hartland Publications, Box 1, Rapidan, VA 22733. 1-800-774-3566). This book is a careful, meticulous, in-depth study of Ron Wyatt's claims. These researchers "speak the truth in love" but state that Ron Wyatt has not been truthful in his claims.
During the course of writing the first article, other proponents of Jebel al-Lawz requested that I not mention Ron Wyatt. Their stated concern to me was that my mentioning of him would "dignify him" and they consider him a "con man."
They feared that mentioning them in the same paragraph as Wyatt would result in "guilt by associations"! I pointed out to them that when publishing research results one must begin with a discussion of the history of research and include a review of the literature on the subject.
Ron Wyatt is the key player in this discovery. Both sets of proponents of this view used the same archaeological evidence to prove their points. The only difference between the views is their proposed route from Egypt to the Red Sea and the placing of the Red Sea crossing.
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