WRONG! From Mount Sinai is NOT Jebel al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia:
THE EXODUS CHALLENGE
Bob Cornuke and Larry Williams are self-proclaimed “Adventurers of History.” This challenge will be the ultimate adventure to validate their claims that Mt. Sinai is in Saudi Arabia.
The Conditions
They are to take two ten-year-old children. (Please get a parental consent form signed by both parents. I do not want you to be hauled into court for child abuse). Also bring along two sheep and two goats.
They will be permitted to buy bottled water along the way. I do not want to be responsible for their death by dehydration!
In the event that the pillar of cloud/fire does not reappear, they will be permitted to use road maps and their good judgments as to the timing so as to cover the 350 miles, averaging 58 miles per day, in the allotted time.They will not have to take 2 million men, women or children with them, nor a herd of cattle, a flock of sheep and herd of goats.
The Concessions
They will not have to bring along any nursing mothers with newborn children.
They will not need to bring along senior citizens. Remember, Moses, Aaron and Miriam were all more than 80 years old.In the unlikely event the challengers are successful, after being observed by a neutral party and documented on video, I (Gordon Franz) will publicly and in print, renounce my articles against the idea that Mt. Sinai is at Jebel al-Lawz and will wholeheartedly endorse their views. I will also donate $1,000 to the BASE Institute.
The Promise
In the likely event of failure, I will let them decide what their course of action will be.
Ken Durham called this an “intentionally frivolous challenge”! (Letter from Durham, Sept. 7, 2001, p. 7). With all due respect, I am very serious about this challenge because if they walk it, they will abandon the idea because they will know (experientially) that it is impossible. He also objected to placing Rameses at Tell el-Dab’a and would prefer to see it in eastern Goshen. As they say at Burger King, “Have it your way!” I am willing to let you start from the eastern end of the Wadi Tumilat and go the 250 miles you think was the distance.
Durham says, “A steady walking rate of 3.5 miles per hour sustained for 12 hours of navigable daylight results in a ‘days journey’ optimal linear distance of 42 miles. … Therefore, as odd as it may sound to our ears to reckon a ‘day’s journey’ as 42 to 43 miles, it is probably very close to the optimum of the Exodus Hebrews” (Letter from Ken Durham, September 7, 2001, p. 14). He then sets forth his scenario for the distance traveled each day (pp. 13-15). On the first day they traveled 36 miles. The second, 36 miles and camped at Etham, but he does not identify where Etham was located. On the third day they pick up the pace to 16-18 hours per day and travel 45-48 miles. The fourth day they cover 48 miles. The fifth day they cover 40-45 miles, and the sixth day another 45-50 miles. On Shabbat they rested. If they can walk those distances each day, I would be impressed. What really stretches the imagination is his reckoning of the Egyptian forces. Pharaoh had spies following the Israelites for three days. On the third day when they realize the Israelites are not stopping, they return to Pharaoh by the fourth day so he can muster his chariot force and foot soldiers in order to pursue the Israelites. Those spies would have to run back overnight to Pharaoh covering a distance of approximately 120 miles in less than 12-16 hours (running a steady 10 miles per hour!). If Pharaoh were successful in mustering his troops in one day, they would have three days to catch up to the Israelites. They would have to average 83 miles per day, on foot and in chariots, in order to cover the 250 miles in three days! Anybody want to join them?
