The location of Mount Sinai

There are many proposed locations for Mount Sinai. The Bible does not unequivocally state its location but does give many characteristics of the site, which was well known up to the time of Elijah, nearly 600 years later. Several criteria must be met for a site to be a good candidate for Mount Sinai.

When Moses first fled Egypt, he most likely took the southern route from Suez through the Mitlah Pass, directly across the Sinai Peninsula to Nekhel, and then through the pass at Ayla to escape from Egypt to Midian. This is substantiated by the discovery of later Ramesses III inscriptions marking the southern route to Nekhel in the Sinai Peninsula, then the Roded Wadi in Israel, and, as of April 2025, east of Ayla in Jordan. Another inscription is found near Tayma in Saudi Arabia. Tayma is noted for the well of Haddaj, which was in use at the time of Moses, along with many other wells in the area. It could have been the place where Moses, in his initial flight from Egypt, met Zipporah—his wife, who was the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian.

The Roded Wadi would be one of the three channels of Pi Hahiroth, the others being the Araba Wadi and the Itum Wadi, which mark the crossing site of the Red Sea in the Exodus. Miracles of the Exodus, Colin Humphreys.

After marrying Zipporah, Moses pastured his father-in-law’s flocks in the wilderness “behind” (or to the west, per Exodus 3:1 ESV), where he encountered the Angel of the LORD on Mount Sinai. Directions in Hebrew are often given from the perspective of someone facing east, so "behind" would indicate west.

To find Mount Sinai, we must therefore locate the western pastureland of Midian. The exact location of Midian is debated, but Abraham sent all his descendants—except Isaac, but including Midian—eastward of the Arabah, which is the Dead Sea Transform (Genesis 25:6). Evidence of Abraham’s relatives and descendants can be found in numerous petroglyphs from Amman, Jordan (Hobab), to the area of al-‘Ula, where there are references to Dedan. Dedan was the son of Jokshan, who was Midian’s brother; both were sons of Abraham. North of al-‘Ula is Tayma, which corresponds to biblical Tema, a descendant of Ishmael (Genesis 25:15). The Ishmaelites apparently intermarried with the Midianites (Genesis 27:38), so Tayma—being close to al-‘Ula—is a strong candidate for one location of Midian. A petroglyph near Tayma mentions Midian by name, supporting Tayma as at least one part of Midian (OCIANA: Oxford Corpus of Taymanitic Inscriptions, p. 172).

Many scholars believe Mount Sinai was a volcano due to the biblical descriptions: the burning bush that was not consumed (Exodus 3:2), smoke, fire like a furnace, lightning, tremors, loud noise, and the melting of rocks during the events of the Exodus (Judges 5:5 KJV; Exodus 19:16–20).

Volcanism in Arabia is found in the mountain range east of the Dead Sea Transform, which extends from Türkiye to Uganda. No volcanic activity is found in the Sinai Peninsula, where the traditional site of Mount Sinai is located.

In 1873, Charles Beke proposed the volcano Hala-‘l Badr—approximately 85 miles west of Tayma—as a good candidate for Mount Sinai. Its current name is Jebel Tedhra (جبال تذرع), meaning “the Mount of Invocation.” Among its notable features is a large, elevated reservoir of water just west of the volcanic cone, which could have been the source of the water miraculously provided to the Israelites at Horeb. This sand-filled reservoir is large, white, and flat on its surface, which may have created a mirage effect in the hot afternoon sun. The elders saw "a paved work of sapphire stone, clear as the very heaven" (Exodus 24:10), while the volcanic cone on the east side of the reservoir may have been actively pouring lava. The elders may have been seeing the sky refracted off the reservoir's flat surface and the divine power of God demonstrated by the active volcano, as God literally melted (נזלו) Mount Sinai before their eyes. That should have satisfied even the most skeptical elder—as well as ourselves—unless one insists upon supernatural signs for faith (Romans 1:20; Matthew 16:4). Volcanism was known at this time (Job 28:5), so the elders had to have seen beyond geology and recognized God’s spiritual presence.

One characteristic that is questioned about this candidate for Mount Sinai is the requirement that it be located 11 days' journey from Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea, as mentioned in the Tanakh. Alois Musil, an early explorer to Mount Tedhra, was able to average 45 km per day on camels, which places this trail within 11 days’ travel. He was told by a local guide that the spring on Tedhra had been blocked by a landslide, which may explain why the Horeb spring is not seen today (The Northern Hejaz, Alois Musil, 1926).

Multiple structures thought to be places of animal sacrifice are found in this region. At least two such structures are seen on Tedhra, comprising a central altar and twelve stones in a circle, as described in Exodus 24:4. Moses may have learned this practice from Jethro, and since the name of God was not revealed until the events of the Exodus—and then primarily to the Israelites—it makes sense that, to date, only the names of local deities have been found inscribed on the rocks in northwest Arabia.

What remains is to more precisely date the eruptions of this volcano and to study the petroglyphs around Tedhra for further evidence of the Exodus, in order to settle the question of the true location of Mount Sinai.