Western Sinai Expedition of April 2002

     The purpose of this expedition was to tie up some loose ends regarding what Joseph did and where he stashed the gold and silver after he sold the grain to the rest of the ancient world. I also wanted to verify the path Moses and the Hebrews took during the Exodus. My son David and myself were the only people going plus an Egyptian driver.

     During the second expedition in 1999 I had arrived in Egypt about a week early to purchase supplies and wanted to go to where I believed the crossing was and locate Sukot. The driver I used for this trip was not the one that took us to Mount Sinai in 1997 or 1999. Below are the remains of Sukot. Volume III, The Exodus has a map and more pictures of Sukot (Sukkot or Succoth is the Jewish spelling of the holiday ). Sukot stretched on for miles but today much of it is covered by 2-4 feet of sediments.

Sukot (Sukkot)

     Originally these grain storage houses stretched on for miles. The grain was loaded onto barges and shipped down the canals to Ethem known knows as Suez city.

Caption:  Some pottery shards found at the site.

    We also made a trip to Luxor to see Hatshepsut entombment. It was supposedly designed by Sanmut. In Volume II  Joseph, I prove that Sanmut was Joseph. We also photographed there statutes of Joseph/Sanmut.

The Exodus Route

     The book covers the entire Exodus route from Goshen to the battle of Amelek. The first place of interest is the location of the crossing. What was interesting is that in the Torah it tells us that Moses and the congregation were already on the Sinai side but God tells them to go back and around on the western side of the Bay of Suez. The map shows the route. When they arrive they saw the Egyptian chariots coming after them in hot pursuit. The choke point is shown in the next picture. Today there is a rock quarry there so in the past the mountain was much closer to the road so the chariots could not pass.

Caption below: The dark line represent the Exodus route after Moses was instructed by God to turned back and go to the western side of the Bay of Suez.

Caption: A satellite photo of the crossing area and the spit of land where the Hebrew crossed.

The Crossing and the Other Side.

     The crossing was made from the point shown on the satellite photo. On the other side of the bay and after the crossing Moses went to empty out a cave containing Joseph’s gold, that was Baal-zephon. While Moses was on his short journey Aaron had constructed a 6-foot 2-inch high stone obelisk. It was placed on the eastern side of the Bay as shown on the map. Aaron placed the obelisk on the highest point on that sand spit to mark the location of the crossing. As far as I can determine no one before me has ever found the real crossing place or knew about an obelisk placed there to commemorate the crossing. Moses gives the clues for the obelisk in the poem listed after the crossing. The Obelisk was listed on old maps simply as “standing stone.” The fifth photo shows where the obelisk originally stood before someone pushed it down the embankment.

Caption below: No one knew this obelisk was created by the Hebrews and that it marked where the crossing was. Aaron had it made when Moses went to Baal-zephon to retrieve some of the gold and silver Joseph had hidden there.

Caption: Mr. Vogt and his son David are sitting on the fallen obelisk.

Caption below: The base of the obelisk. Moses hints at the stone obelisk in the poem located in Exodus just after the crossing story.

Caption: This location is where the obelisk was originally placed. It appeared on old maps as "Stand Stone." This was the highest point on the opposite side of the Bay of Suez.

The Wells of Moses

     The congregation encamped at a place now called “the Wells of Moses” located only about five miles northeast of the crossing spot. The pictures show one of the wells as well as what the area looks like today.

The Hebrews Journey Through the Pass to the Interior of the Sinai.

     From there the congregation headed south and then turned east along the trail and road that lead to the interior of the Sinai. It is located north of the mountain called Sinn Bishr as in the wilderness of Sinn. The photo shows the beginning of the pass and where I think the first Sabbath was observed.

Caption below: The first sabbath was held several days before entering the pass. The view is looking north-east.

The Encampment Where the Battle with Amelek.

     We traveled further along the road until we arrived at the encampment that the people were complaining about water again. We found the two springs he mentions called Massah and Meribah. The photo shows Massah with David.

Caption below: David Vogt standing in front of one of the springs of water mentioned by Moses.

     The Torah tells us that God told Moses to use the Rod to release water from a rock outcropping. The picture below shows where the Wadi el Suder starts flowing from a rock outcropping. We can assume the congregation encamped in the area. The battle of Amelek was just a few hundred yards from this location.

Caption Below: At the base of that rise, in the background, is where the spring starts. Moses puts this location in Exodus as the place where he strikes the rock so water comes out.

     I found the location where the battle of Amelek took place. Moses writes that he and his brother and Uzi were on top of a rise looking down onto the battle. He says that they made a ledge for him to sit on and there was an altar nearby on top. I found all of what he describes including arrowheads and spearheads, The seat he describes and the fire pit just a few feet next to the seat.

Caption below: This is the rise (very small hill) which is about 35-feet high. On top was found the seat and small fire pit/altar he describes in Exodus.

Caption: View from the top of the rise where Moses looked down onto the battlefield.

     All of what we have briefly described and much more is fully covered in the book Decoding the Hebrew Scriptures, Volume III, The Exodus and Finding the Real Mount Sinai. A donation to the foundation will greatly help our continued research, expeditions and operations.