Scholars debate the location of the real Mt. Sinai where Moses met God after the Exodus from Egypt. The traditional location is in the Sinai Peninsula, but a number of scholars argue for a site in ancient Midian in NW Saudi Arabia. “There is virtually no evidence of human activity in the supposed Mount Sinai in Egypt. Is the real location for where God gave the Jews the Ten Commandments in Saudi Arabia?”

“Shanks (of Biblical Archeological Review) proposes that we reexamine another theory: the “Midianite Hypothesis.” According to this theory, Mt. Sinai was not in the Sinai Peninsula, but in Midian in northwest Saudi Arabia. In the Bible, Moses fled to Midian after escaping Egypt (Exodus 2:15). While tending to the flock of Jethro, the priest of Midian who became Moses’ father-in-law, Moses came to “the Mountain of God” (Mt. Horeb–one of two names for the Mountain of God in the Bible) and there received God’s call to take the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1,17). In contrast to the archaeologically empty Sinai during the traditional date of the Exodus, the region of northwest Saudi Arabia was thriving in the 12th century—as attested by the proliferation of Midianite ware, pottery associated with the Midianites. This distinctive painted ware had even made its way north to an Egyptian temple at Timna in the Negev Desert—but not into the Sinai.” Read more here.

A video with Frank Turek examining clues at the site in Saudi Arabia is here. A related article is here. “Unlike the Sinai Peninsula, everything we saw in Saudi Arabia fit the biblical narrative and did so with an abundance of archaeological and geographical evidence.”

In contrast, an academic paper that forcefully argues against the site in Saudi Arabia is here. The author states, “I believe that this paper, along with the Bible and Spade article, will conclusively demonstrate that there is no credible historical, geographical, archaeological, or biblical evidence to support the thesis that Mt. Sinai is at Jebel al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia.”

Yet another article here examines six popular sites that have been suggested as the possible location for Mount Sinai. While Mt. Sinai is unquestionably a real historical site, we simply do not have enough evidence to locate with any certainty its location.