An increasing number of Christian pilgrims are travelling to Saudi Arabia to see what they believe could be the Mount Sinai of Moses and the Ten Commandments.
Many are on tours organised by American Christian author and filmmaker Joel Richardson who’s convinced that the Biblical Mount Sinai is not on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, but further east across the Gulf of Aqaba in the far north of Saudi Arabia. The tourists have been prompted by his arguments for a Saudi Sinai and a viral YouTube video in support of the theory, to at least check out the site for themselves.
Some archaeologists assert Biblical descriptions of the Mount Sinai region are more accurately reflected around the supposed Saudi site. Mainstream Biblical scholars strongly dispute the claim and insist Moses led the Israelites across the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, although there is disagreement over exactly which peak is Mount Sinai.
When Saudi Arabia opened up to foreign tourists in 2019 the nation didn’t anticipate a boom in mostly evangelical Christian pilgrims because no one believed the desert kingdom contained any Biblical holy sites. Most Biblical scholars agreed that the ‘real’ Mount Sinai is on the Sinai Peninsula.
Jewish independent nonprofit Forward writes that Biblical events and their exact locations can be impossible to prove because of limited archaeological evidence and shifting borders throughout history.
It writes: “The Saudi Sinai camp argues that the lack of archaeological evidence in the Sinai Peninsula suggests the Israelites were never there, and some readings of the Scriptures imply that Moses was in Midian which is believed to have been in “Arabia.” Detractors point out that “Arabia” of the time was a huge area and the Saudi peak is too far for the Israelites to have traveled to it in the short period the Biblical text gives.”
Forward explains the ‘evidence’ for the Saudi Arabian Mount Sinai includes a mountain in the area roughly matching the Biblical description — which many other mountains also do — and black rocks that believers think are proof of God’s fiery descent from heaven. There are also some undated signs of life and religious worship around the area and some petroglyphs of cows. These etchings in a rock at the foot of the Saudi mountain are alleged to be proof of the Israelites worshiping the golden calf.
Those details are sufficient to keep the Christian pilgrims booking trips to Saudi Arabia where many have been impressed by the spectacular scenery. One told the New York Times they were stunned by the beauty of the landscape around the alternative Mount Sinai.
