Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God (Exodus 3:1)

Jebel Musa is the traditional Mount Sinai. This is a logical place for this identification for a number of reasons. One is that the amount of rainfall, up to 6 inches (15 cm) per year, makes the area ideal for shepherds. Still today, shepherds bring their flocks here for grazing. By contrast, the area of northern Sinai gets only 2 inches (5 cm) of rain annually. This American Colony photograph was taken between 1898 and 1914.

Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground (Exodus 3:5).

These sandals were discovered in the tomb (KV 46) of Yuya and Tuya, the grandparents of the Egyptian king Akhenaten. They were photographed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians (Exodus 3:8).

This relief shows the Egyptian king grasping three men by the hair with his right hand, showing that he has subdued them. They are “in his hand,” as it were. God’s promise was to reverse this situation for the Israelites, nullifying the power of the Egyptian king and delivering the people from his grasp. This relief was photographed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

And you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt (Exodus 3:18).

One Egyptian palace that has been excavated is the palace of Merneptah (r. 1213–1203 BC) at Memphis. Almost nothing is left at the site, but various architectural components that were discovered have been fitted together in this display to give some idea of its original layout. This display was photographed at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God (Genesis 3:18).

Mount Yeroham, located in the Negev Highlands, is a site that was occupied during the Intermediate Bronze Age. It included a high place that consisted of a rock wall surrounding an altar. No other buildings were found in the immediate vicinity. While this clearly cannot be associated with Horeb/Mount Sinai, it shows that cultic activity in the wildernesses of Sinai and the southern Levant was a common occurrence (e.g., Har Karkom). The destination of Yahweh’s festival of “three days’ journey into the wilderness” is unknown.