EXO 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Then, God, Himself, spoke His great eternal Law, the Ten Commandments.

EXO 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

When standing at the foot of the mountain on the east side, looking west, the very top of the peak is blackened. Over 1,400 years later, Paul wrote: For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29).

Was he speaking in abstract terms, or literally? The Exodus account is very precise in the descriptions given of God's presence upon the Holy Mountain:

EXO 24:17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

DEU 4:11 ... and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

DEU 5:4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,... 23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

When the Presence of the Lord came down upon Mt. Sinai, it charred the top of the mountain. I don't believe there is any other explanation. After many tries, our Saudi friends finally succeeded in climbing to the very top of Jebel el Lawz and provided us with wonderful photos and video of the incredible scene. To me, this is one of the most spectacular and Holy spots on the face of the earth- the very place where the Presence of God rested, and spoke the Ten Commandments.

H. St. John Philby spent a number of years exploring this region in the early part of this century, and he, too, not only noticed "the great massif of Lauz", he equated the mountain range with Mt. Sinai. But in all his years in the region, he never climbed it:

"...The basalt pyramid of Maqla' looked climbable, but the sheer granite of the Lauz peaks would have needed more time and energy than I had at my disposal. So far as I know, they have never been climbed by any human being." (The Land of Midian, by H. St. John B. Philby, Ernest Benn Ltd., London, 1957)

He apparently never saw the blackened peak because he viewed the mountain from the northwest:

"...The main peak of Lauz, partly in cloud, rose to the south-east of our position.... on which there seemed to be a patch of snow. The guide confirmed that it was snow: and if so, it was the first and only time I have ever seen snow in Sa'udi Arabia...". ibid.

To my knowledge, our friends' photos are probably the only ones ever taken from the top of this mountain, and they may well be the only people who have ever climbed to the top, at least in the last few hundred years.

EXO 20:24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

EXO 24:4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

The altar is located directly beneath, or "under" the high peak of Sinai. After Ron's 1985 visit to the site, the entire area at the foot of the mountain was fenced in, a guard house built and a sign designating it as an off-limits archaeological site was erected. On one of their first trips there, our friends were allowed by the men guarding the site to go into the fenced-in area and look around. They actually stood upon the altar without realizing what it was. However, the bedouins who allowed them in, took their cameras while they were inside. The only photos we have are those made from the plateau above looking down, and those taken from the fence. The best ones are those taken from above.

As can be seen, the entire structure is "L" shaped. The altar is the lower "L", which is of solid rock construction. The upper "L" consists of walls with what appears to be 2 entrance-ways into it.

The altar is about 40 to 45 inches high, between 50 and 60 feet long and roughly 25 to 30 feet wide. The "corral" is of an equivalent size, with its walls being a little over 3 feet thick. These measurements are rough estimates, based on Ron's recollections, our friends' (who examined it recently) estimates, and the known diameter and length of the broken pieces of marble columns around the altar, which we'll discuss later. Of course, the altar and "corral" aren't in perfect shape- the intervening 3,400+ years have taken their toll on the remains, which are a bit crumbled.

The entrance ways into the "corral" are what initially led us to believe it was foundation for a tent, such as the first tabernacle. But now that we have access to better photos, it can be seen that the upper "L" section contains walls that are about the same height as the altar, which then led to our conclusion that it wasn't a foundation.

We then concluded that it was perhaps a "corral" for the sacrificial animals. The fact that it had a dividing wall down the lengthwise center of the "L" contributed to our theory that it was a pen for the animals, and that the sheep were on one side while the oxen or bullocks were on the other.

What was the purpose of the "corral"? Could it have been divided into 2 sections to separate the animals about to be sacrificed? At first, the idea seems tempting. But we must examine everything the Bible tells us about the early sacrifices.

At the time Moses built this altar, God hadn't given him the details of the elaborate sacrificial system of the Mosaic Law. Until that point in time, the Bible speaks of 2 types of offerings: 1- "burnt offerings", and 2- "peace offerings", and we are given very little detail of how the offerings and sacrifices were made.

After Moses built the altar, the next verse states:

EXO 24:5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

The verse states that the "peace offerings" were oxen. What were the "burnt offerings"? We can go to the story of Abraham, when he was called by God to offer Isaac:

GEN 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

We now need to understand the circumstances and occasion of the sacrifices made at Mt. Sinai just after Moses built the altar:

EXO 24:8 And Moses... said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

They were made to ratify the Covenant just after God had given them the Ten Commandments. But were the animals killed upon the altar, or before being placed on it? We have only one example of a "peace offering" prior to this time in which we are given details- in the story of Abraham:

GEN 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

This indicates that the "burnt offering" in Abraham's day, was killed upon the altar. But what about the peace offering of the ox or bullock? We really don't know except for the fact that in the later sacrificial system, the blood of the bullock was poured at the bottom of the altar of the "burnt offering":

LEV 4:7 ... and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

When the Covenant was ratified at Mt. Sinai and the first sacrifices and offerings made upon the altar:

EXO 24:6 ...Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

This tells us that at the least, the blood of the bullocks was drained before they were placed on the altar as "peace offerings". And perhaps the sheep, too, were drained of blood. We simply aren't told. But the point of this discussion is to ascertain the purpose of the dividing wall down the lengthwise center of the "corral". If the blood was drained from the animals prior to their being offered, there would be no need to separate the animals in the "corral". Could there be another reason for the dividing wall?

As I have been writing this, I have plastered on the wall in front of me several enlargements of the area at Mt. Sinai. As prepared as I thought I was to finally present all the details of this subject to you, something quite astounding caught my eye last night while I was writing about the altar and "corral". I had a very large blow-up of the altar in front of me, and as I glanced up, something caught my eye that I had never noticed before- something that I believe provided the answer to the question about the purpose of the "corral".