Moses Altar is located at the base of Jabal Maqla (Mount of the Quarry) that is the southern peak of Jabal Lawz (Mountain of the Almond) mountain range. This is considered the eastern side of the Lawz mountain range. It is said in the Bible, Exodus 24:4 “And Moses wrote all the words of YHVH. And he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.” That is exactly what we find at the bottom of the mountain, uncut stones formed in a typical animal turn pin leading to a kill station, with cooking station, and a presenting boulder or two.

The Saudi Arabian government did a survey of the site along with soil samples. Those samples confirmed that animals being killed and cooked at this site were indeed Biblically clean animals according to the bones that were found along with animal dung and ash. This altar is located directly next to a ravine that flowed water from Mount Sinai down through to what formed a small lake. This small lake would have been where the Israelites would have washed themselves like in Exodus 19:14. The lake would have been where Moses and Aaron would have washed themselves to prepare for sacrifices like in Exodus 30:19-21. Water is a very significant detail when speaking about an altar. Moses would have needed a lot of water for the cleaning of animals, tools, and himself. And this small lake would have been where Moses would have sprinkled the gold to make the people drink as a punishment for worshiping the golden calf, like in Exodus 32:20. In modern times this lakebed and ravine rarely sees much of any water. Saudi Arabia’s typical rainfall near Tabuk and surrounding areas is less than 1 inch of rain for the whole year. However, in 2023 rainfall drastically increased and the ravine is again flowing with water.

Located next to the altar is white marble slabs. Many of these slabs are carved in the shape of columns. Many have theorized that these columns could be the pillars mentioned in the Bible that Moses had built in Exodus 24:4 “…at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.” However, others have theorized that King Solomon came through later in history and had a memorial building built with the white marble from the deposit far up on Mount Sinai. The cutouts from that deposit are still there to this day. The white marble found on Mount Sinai is unique to just this mountain. An earlier explorer claimed to have found a piece of white marble next to Moses Altar with Paleo Hebrew on it that said Solomon on it. This piece was then buried in that location for protection to be dug up at a later time. Digging in Saudi Arabia is forbidden. Perhaps in the future we might finally get an answer.