GEN 29:2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. 3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place.

Moses' father-in-law's flock were watered by his daughters who withdrew water from a well and poured it into troughs:

EXO 2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

GEN 30:38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

Looking down at the "sacred precinct," a massive amount of crumbling stone walls constructed of dark stone is very visible. In the photo, you can see the blackish lines of the walls extending from one edge of the mountain, ending where the stream passes into the lake, then beginning on the other side and extending to the opposite side of the mountain. They also follow from the right edge of the mountain, then turn and follow the squared-off area along the side of the stream, continuing about halfway into the "holy precinct". On the left side, these walls also follow the edge of the stream but aren't as visible because of the angle. My estimate, by comparing them with objects of known size in the photo, is between 8 and 12 feet tall. Although most are completely crumbled, there is an almost intact section along the stream, directly above the altar in the photo.

Also, along the left border of the mountain are crumbled walls which begin at the lake and follow the edge of the mountain all the way to the line of pillars. There don't appear to have been any walls on the mountain edge opposite the guard shack, but it probably was secure with the walls along the lake. There's no entrance into the "holy precinct" from that side. The only entry, even today, is through the strip of land between the mountain and the lake by the guard shack- see the bottom photo below.

After Moses built the altar and erected the pillars, and the sacrifices were made:

EXO 24:9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

We have had people ask if there is sapphire on the top of Mt. Sinai. There isn't - it is black as coal. Note the Scripture - it doesn't say the ground was sapphire, it say that "under His feet" was "as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone". This is the same as saying "it looked something like...". Also, remember that Ezekiel, too, saw God in vision:

EZE 10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.

While this group of men was on the mountain with Moses, they did not go to the top. Moses was then called further up into the mountain to receive the Table of Stone, while the others waited for him on the mountain:

EXO 24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God. 14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.

Directly above the altar is a "plateau" that is quite large. On the plateau are 2 rocky "knolls" which can be seen in the photo. "Knoll" is perhaps not the proper description for them since they are perhaps 75 feet tall. The "U"shape to the right of the knolls is where our friends were able to view the entire "sacred precinct" and photograph it.

Viewing these "knolls" from the lake in front of the "holy precinct", we can see that the one on the right has 2 giant boulders on its top with a tree between them. Below this is a cave, which may be the cave Elijah stayed in when he fled there to escape the wrath of Jezebel:

1KI 19:8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. 9 and he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

God again called Moses to come up into the mount, and Joshua went up with him. He told the elders to wait there for him, and that Aaron and Hur were "in charge":

EXO 24:13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God. 14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.

They went up into the mount, probably again to the plateau:

EXO 24:16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 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. 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

In the next photo, you can see the plateau in the center of the picture; the "sacred precinct" is just over the "U" next to the 2 knolls. The "glory of the Lord... in the midst of the cloud" rested on the very top of the mountain, charring it completely. Our friends were standing on the blackened top when they took this photo- the high, black pointed peak rises to the right.

While Joshua waited for Moses on the plateau, God gave Moses the directions for building Him a sanctuary:

EXO 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

And then,

EXO 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

But then, to Moses' great shock, God suddenly became very angry with the people:

EXO 32:7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

God's anger was so great that He told Moses He was going to destroy them and "begin again", calling Himself a "new" people of the family of Moses:

EXO 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

But Moses pleaded with God for his people:

EXO 32:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

Moses was a figure of Christ - a mediator who pleaded for the wicked, fallen race, even when God had offered to make of him a great nation.

EXO 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

Moses then started down the mountain:

EXO 32:15...and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

When he got to the plateau, Joshua had heard the noise far below, in the camp:

EXO 32:17 ...he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he [Moses] said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

In the photo below, in the center of the "U" of the plateau, you can see a line extending from a hill. At the left end of this line of rocks, is the "altar to the golden calf. Many of these photos have been taken with high powered lenses, and though it may look relatively close, the golden calf altar is about 3 km. from the altar in the "holy precinct".

I do not believe there is a human being alive who can imagine how Moses felt, seeing that altar, and the people dancing and singing, sacrificing to a statue of gold - after he had just left the Presence of God.

EXO 32:20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

In 1985, Ron stood upon some of the boulders of that altar. As he looked at it, still wet with the early morning dew which puddled in a rather large, smooth indentation on the top of one of the largest stones, something caught his eye. The puddle of water looked red, almost like blood- but it wasn't blood. It was gold, ground gold, down in the very pores of the rock. Moses had ground the golden calf to powder on the top of the altar.

There was enough evidence to know that this was most likely the altar to the golden calf- it had 12 groups of petroglyphs of cows and bulls, all drawn in the Egyptian style. The archaeologist from Rhiyad University who came a few days later, stated that there was no other site in Saudi Arabia in which this style of Egyptian petroglyph was found. In fact, he was more excited about the altar than anything else they found at the mountain. It was enough evidence for the Saudi government to declare it a protected archaeological site and enclose it with a 12 foot fence.

There are a number of other rocks with petroglyphs, but there is one that I found very fascinating. It is not part of an altar - it's on an arrangement of large rocks near the "sacred precinct". Seen at left, it appears to be a "billboard" depicting scenes from their daily life.

It has 9 cows, 4 with their horns depicted like the Apis bull on the golden calf altar; 5 with their horns curved forward. One is being carried by a man, as if it perhaps fell in a crevice or got caught in some brush. There's a number of goats with long horns; a camel, a sheep, several animals that look like dogs (which were probably used for herding cattle); one that looks like a wolf; a man with a bow and arrow, who appears to be aiming at the "wolf", a snake, and 2 figures that look like cats.

The designs on the cattle are pure Egyptian. And the presence of dogs and cats is really no surprise- they are frequently depicted in the walls scenes of ancient Egyptian tombs. One of the petroglyphs on the golden calf altar has a cat standing on the back of a cow- cats were sacred in Egypt, representing the cat-headed goddess, Bast.

The evidence at this mountain is completely overwhelming. It gives us great insights into the lives of the great multitude that we have never had until now. But more than that, it gives us great and wonderful evidences of the precise accuracy and validity of the Biblical account. For those who want the Truth, these wonderful things will silence the voices from the seminaries and pulpits which proclaim the events at Sinai to be "legends". He has given us the chance to see the very place where His Presence charred the very mountain; the place where He spoke to mankind with His Own lips.

PSA 89:34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.