Mount Sinai Was A Volcano In Saudi Arabia, Says Scientist (Exodus)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-13-2003 | Roger Highfield

[blam]

Mount Sinai was volcano in Saudi Arabia, says scientist

By Roger Highfield Science Editor
(Filed: 13/06/2003)

Mount Sinai, where Scripture says Moses received God's Law, is located in Saudi Arabia, not Egypt's Sinai Peninsula - moving a key site for Judaism into the nation where Islam was founded, according to a Cambridge professor.

Science also backs traditional beliefs that the Israelites' exodus from Egypt was led by Moses, roughly the way that the Bible tells it, according to Prof Colin Humphreys of Cambridge University.

Prof Humphreys, a churchgoing Baptist and materials scientist, outlines his ideas in his forthcoming book: The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories.

While other scholars have proposed that Sinai was in Arabia, Prof Humphreys argues that the holy mount must have been an active volcano, since it shook and emitted fire and smoke (Exodus 19:18). And he has carefully examined records ancient and modern to fix the site.

His candidate: present-day Mount Bedr in north-western Saudi Arabia, since there were no ancient volcanoes in what was later named the Sinai Peninsula.

Prof Humphreys also thinks that near Mount Bedr, Moses experienced God's call at the "burning bush". He suggests that this was caused by flammable natural gas or volcanic gas escaping from the ground.

The Book of Exodus obviously underwent later editing, he said, but the evidence strongly suggests witness material that might well come from Moses himself. The book is "amazingly accurate and coherent", he said.

Prof Humphreys also offers other "naturalistic" explanations for wondrous events. For instance, he thinks that escalating natural disasters explain each of the 10 "plagues" that forced Pharaoh to let the Israelite slaves depart. The Nile "turned to blood" meant that toxic red algae killed fish, the dead fish forced frogs ashore, gnats and flies were drawn to the dead fish and frogs and the insects transmitted a virus that killed livestock.

[VaBthang4]

Well, I dont think Seti is given over that far....he is simply in pride...probably has alot of his identity wrapped up in the dogma of Egyptian history and simply cant consider reality lest it destroy his own foundation.

Mt. Sinai in Saudi [Midian]: Yeah...It flows to comprehend that Moses would go where he was familiar. No doubt that during those forty years he spent away from the Royal family was in and around Jabel El Lawz in Midian [His Father in Law's backyard if not outright possesion].

He knew the terrian, he knew it could handle the population he was bringing with him. It is obvious this is where Mt. Sinai is located.

Folks with an agenda or warped sense of religion [doctrine] argue against this.

[the_doc]

But according to the Bible, pride is the spiritually incapacitating sin. It was the essence of the sin of the Fall. It is utterly ruinous. (It can even make a Christian temporarily unteachable.)

In short, Adamic pride is a complete disaster. Apart from supernatural intervention, the person who needs to repent is by definition the one who won't repent. (The systematic theology of the entire mess is actually sadly funny when you see the big picture of what the Bible is actually teaching about the mess man is in. As Luther pointed out, the fallen sinner's will is free-and-yet-bound. The bottom-line point is that the Fall was a whole lot worse than most people realize. Lost sinners are in desperately serious trouble.)

[MarMema]

I just saw a video on this. It was incredible.

[MarMema]

I am trying to resurrect this thread. We saw a movie about the mountain in Saudi Arabia, not the one in this post but the one with the pics. Have any of you seen this movie? It is incredible!

[blam]

"I just saw a video on this. It was incredible."

What was the name of it? Was it a movie or a documentary?

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[EggsAckley]

Moses set up pillars and boundary stones which were found by explorers Cornuke and Williams. Even the alter Aaron used for the worship of the Golden Calf has been found, decorated with drawings of cows.

What's interesting here is that it sounds like the pillars were "set up" by a flick of Moses' hand, and the alter just appeared with the drawings. If those things were built AND found, then the Israelites must have been in that locale for years, not just passing through.

[Modernman]

After centuries of scoffing and ridicule, many "folk memory" tales in the Bible have been proven to be valid and accurate.

Example, please.

[Miss Marple]

One example I can think of is the discovery in Jerusalem of a stone with the inscription "Pontius Pilate" on it. This happened in the late 50's or early 60's and was pictured in Life magazine. Up until then many scholars had assumed there was no such person, since there was no historical reference to him.

[Walkingfeather]

Okay all got a question for you... When was the last time that the press used a description like this "Prof Humphreys, a churchgoing Baptist ..." to sway and argument in THEIR favor? No they used that to ridcule most "right wing nutcases" Hhhmmmm funny why do you think they want to use it in this case? Because it serves their purpose of discrediting anything Biblical. Remember folks just because they print it dont make it true. No more than this guy being a baptist or a scientist. Who knows. You dont I dont but I do know how the press feels about Biblical issues, so I will just go ahead and dismiss it outright. This guy is probably a Judas Goat.

[MarMema]

It is called Mountain of Fire. See a listing here.

[MarMema]

I suppose it is a documentary, not a movie, sorry.
There was a great deal of interview material and video from the Caldwells.

I found a site for them here.

It is an astonishing story, with plenty of excellent video to back up all claims.

[A.J.Armitage]

What are you, some kind of Calvinist?

:-)

[Carolinamom]

Thanks for posting this interesting information. I have found that science is continually discovering that the Biblical accounts are true. A true scientist, looking for natural phenomena to explain the miracles, which does not negate God's direction, and surveying the vastness of the universes, stands in awe at what God hath wrought.

[blam]

Thanks, I'll see if I can find it around here.

h

[#3Fan]

Who cares what some wack job scientist said. It is the "text", the word, that has the meaning. Screw the "scientists". What the hell to they know about God. Zip!

Amazing when these scientists explain the parting of the Red Sea as caused by a wind. lol Uh huh, a wind causes a wall of water to the left and to the right. They have some big surprises coming their way pretty soon. :^)

[rightwingcrazy]

Even so, there are those 500,000 papyri, mostly from the New Kingdom, covering every aspect of Egyptian life at the time. And there are the archives of neighboring countries, containing thousands of tablets, all silent on the subject.

I'm a complete novice on the historical record, but I don't have to look hard to find something other than silence on the subject.

E.g, a much-discussed papyrus at the Museum of Leiden describing events paralleling the biblical account of plagues in Egypt mentioned here for example, and an inscription on a stele in Egypt translated as “Desolated Israel, that has lost its seed”, referenced here (Tomb of Mineptah).

You can try to dismiss or minimize such references, but don't pretend that they're nonexistent.

[MarMema]

In the movie above they show a sort of underwater formation of sediment that would fit into the entire theory about the location of the events. It runs across the Red Sea.

The formation looks like a bridge. In the movie, the people making it stand on the bridge and water only goes up to their waist.

[the_doc]

My, my, you do read old threads, don't you?

According to the Bible itself, Mount Sinai is definitely in Arabia--which is certainly not the "traditional" location. (I have learned, as a Calvinist, to pay attention to what the Bible actually says!)

[Alouette]

According to the Bible itself, Mount Sinai is definitely in Arabia

There is a large amount of commentary in ancient and medieval Jewish lore that supports this.