REFUTING RON WYATT'S RED SEA CROSSING AT NUWEIBA

     There is a ferry service (see Figure 3 below) that now runs from Nuweiba, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan, but none to Saudi Arabia, which is 15 km east of Nuweiba.  

     Assuming that the Israelites could reach Nuweiba, the issues of depth and slope in the Gulf of Aqaba arise. Although a web site at http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route-ruling-out-candiates-excluding-red-sea-crossing-points-kadesh-barnea.htm rejects Lake Sirbonis (Bardawil) for reason that I reject, with respect to a crossing at Nuweiba, they state “According to the British Admiralty nautical depth chart 12, the land bridge is not flat as misrepresented above. In fact the depths, starting with the Egypt side, are 0m, 263m, 765m, 285m, 0m. This means that as they started crossing, they were at sea level (0m) then had to drop down immediately to 263 m, then continue for 5 km. Next, as they pass the 5 km mark, they drop down to a valley that is 765 m deep. This valley is 2.5 km down and 2.5 km back up again. Next it rises again to the 285 meter level for 5 more km until you rise to sea level on the opposite shore in modern Saudi Arabia. The valley is 1500 feet deep. The CN tower is the tallest building in the world and is only 553m tall. This means that if we placed the CN tower at the deepest spot of 765m, the top of the CN tower would be about even with the first 263 m shelf. So they would have to climb down the height of the CN tower in 2.5km to the bottom, then back up the height of the tower again in 2.5 km. That is quite an steep angle to walk down then back up again. The actual slope is 2.5 km to reach a depth of 765m according to British admiralty nautical depth chart 12. 2500m/765 = 1/3.3 slope, which is a 17 degree incline. This assumes a perfect condition slope, when in fact there are likely huge drop off points.”

Figure 4 shows the road from Nuweiba to the traditional Mount Sinai.  When I first took this trip in 1979 the road was not yet paved (by the Israelis). The top photo in Figure 4 shows how it appeared on my last visit there in 1987. The boy shown is my older son.  He was 10 years old at the time. Much of his life's story is to be found in my Baptism Annulled book.

Figure 5 shows the approach that Ron Wyatt thinks Egyptian forces had to take to attack the Israelites, who numbered over 600,000 men (about 3,000,000 people in all).  Such a route would be easy for the Israelites to defend even without help from the Almighty because the approach to their rear had high mountain walls on both sides. It would be easy to attack the ~600 foot wide pass from above here. See Exodus 13:18 which states, “The Children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt.” These high walls for defense were not available in the Zuqba area.

Figure 6 shows that Wyatt thinks Baal Zephon (mentioned in Exodus 14:2, 14:9, and Numbers 33:7) was in Saudi Arabia.  This is plainly ludicrous.  The very name can be translated as Master of the North, or Master of the Code.  My ELS Map 15 shows where I think it was located. The site that I indicate was indeed the Master of the Egyptian Sinai north when the Exodus occurred and sea level was lower than it is today. The ELS 15 indicates that this site is in the Torah Code with a correct course angle from Temple Mount.  However, there is nothing uniquely north about the position indicated on Ron Wyatt's map, nor is there anything like an ELS map to back his chosen site.

Who the heck was Ron Wyatt??  What about his claim that the Ark of the Covenant is hidden under the site of Calvary?

      To an Orthodox Jew, Ron Wyatt’s claim that the Ark was put under Calvary - site of the crucifixion of the Nazarene - is one that seems hard to swallow. His claim is that this was done as an offering of final blood atonement. While the Torah does place value on the blood offered during animal sacrifices, nowhere does it request human blood sacrifice. When Abraham was ready to offer Isaac’s blood, a ram was provided at the crucial time. The Torah (Leviticus 18:21) decries those who offer their own children to the false god Molech.

     Here again, I will refer briefly to Randall Price’s book, In Search of Temple Treasures. He notes Wyatt’s claim to have photographed the Ark with a 35 mm camera, a Polaroid camera, and video (all of which produced pictures that were whited out) on January 6, 1982. Wyatt claims that he also saw the Ark himself through a colonoscope which was inserted through a hole drilled through the Ark’s case.

     Price writes with a decidedly Christian viewpoint, however, he views the claims by Wyatt the way I do. Putting aside the issue of why God would want the Ark placed in an area that was a cemetery since the time of the First Temple (i.e., an area that would defile the Ark), the reality is that Wyatt’s life-long claims read like the script of the movie Forest Gump. Wyatt boasted that he has found (1) Noah's Ark, (2) the chariots of Pharaoh under the Red Sea, (3) the 12 altars built by Moses, and (4) Abraham's family tomb in Hebron, but not under the 2,000-year old site revered by Jews and Muslims alike. He made other amazing claims, but Price then goes on (Ibid, p. 155-156) to show that on his literature Wyatt listed degrees that he was never issued. Further, Price quotes Dr. Jim Fleming - founder and former director of the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies and an editorial advisor for Biblical Archeology Review - as stating that he observed Wyatt planting false evidence at archeological sites. Wyatt passed away in 1999. Whereas he did so without ever proving his claims about the Ark, we can probably safely put his claim in the same category as Tom Crotser’s claim to have seen the Ark on Mount Nebo in Jordan.