Was Mt. Sinai an Erupting Volcano?
With no more fear of being pursued by the Egyptians, the Israelites could now focus on reaching their destination — Mt. Sinai. Humphreys lists a number of interesting points in the text concerning how Mt. Sinai is described that point to an erupting volcano. If he is correct in his conclusion (and I believe he is), then this means that whatever mountain is the true Mt. Sinai must be an active volcano, of which there are none in the Sinai Peninsula. The only volcanoes in the region with recent (geologically speaking) activity are in western Saudi Arabia, near the ancient land of Midian. This is exactly where the text states that Moses was when he lived in exile. Moses’ first experience on the “mountain of God” was when he saw the “burning bush,” where he encountered the living God. The text describes this in terms of a real fire burning within a bush that clearly was more than simply bush wood on fire. Humphreys suggests that this may have been superheated natural gas leaking out of a f
