A recently released documentary, Finding the Mountain of Moses: The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia, has gone viral online, vividly proposing some scholars’ theories that the 8,460 foot mountain peak in Saudi Arabia – Jabal Maqla, the “Mountain of Almonds” as translated in English, in the Jabal al-Lawz mountain range in the northwestern part of the Islamic country near the Jordanian border – matches the biblical description of Mount Sinai where Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the people.
“For generations, we have been taught we had to believe the story of the Exodus on faith alone. We were taught that Mount Sinai was located in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, but there was barely any evidence found there to make the story of Moses and the Exodus believable,” according to the producers’ description issued with the video per the Christian Post, citing further evidence that an underwater bridge known as the, “Nuweiba Land Bridge” may have been God’s way of leading His people out of Egypt.
“A new theory has emerged in recent decades that the real Mount Sinai is actually in Saudi Arabia, along with other stunning evidences…now, unprecedented footage has been acquired from within Saudi Arabia, bringing the Exodus story to life as never before and potentially shaking up the Middle East.”
To complicate matters, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently proposed a $500 billion endeavor to bulldoze the rugged mountain area and build a megalopolis 17 times the size of London on top of the historical site, Breaking News Israel reported, jeopardizing the ability to do further archaeological research at the proposed biblical site. The construction project has an anticipated completion date of 2025, but political tensions in the area may delay the matter and affect the efforts to build the new city from going forward on time.
“The Saudis are constructing a super city [to be called Neom, spanning over 10,200 square feet] that is planned to be 33 times the size of New York. If all of us don’t take action, Saudi construction in the area may destroy key evidence and prevent excavation for the foreseeable future,” the Christian Post reported Ryan Mauro, National Security Expert and Former Professor of Counter-Terrorism at Liberty University as saying in the documentary.
Other scholars dispute that this mountain is indeed the Mount Sinai described in the Book of Exodus, but restricted access to the area by the Saudi government complicated by geopolitical tensions, religious differences, and construction endeavors complicate the ability to further research the area for more definitive answers one way or another.
Written by Erin Parfet
