A MYSTERIOUS 3,800-year-old inscription etched on the walls of an ancient Egyptian turquoise mine has sparked claims it could prove the Bible’s Book of Exodus true.
Independent researcher Michael Bar-Ron believes markings discovered at Serabit el-Khadim in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula may spell out zot m’Moshe — Hebrew for “This is from Moses.”
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The Proto-Sinaitic carving, found near the famed Sinai 357 in Mine L, dates back to around 1800BC in Egypt’s late 12th Dynasty.
Bar-Ron spent eight years poring over high-resolution images and 3D scans before suggesting the phrase could link directly to the biblical figure who led the Israelites out of Egypt.
“We find worshipful inscriptions lauding the idol Ba’alat, with clearly an El or God-serving scribe coming in later and canceling out certain letters, in an effort to turn the message into a God-serving one,” Bar-Ron told Patterns of Evidence.
“This is ground zero for this conflict.”
Bar-Ron’s academic advisor, Dr Pieter van der Veen, backed his interpretation, saying: “You’re absolutely correct, I read this as well, it is not imagined!”
The tantalizing find comes amid other nearby inscriptions referencing El, an early Israelite deity, alongside defaced mentions of the Egyptian goddess Hathor.
Scholars suggest the erasures point to a fierce religious struggle among Semitic-speaking workers who labored in Pharaoh Amenemhat III’s mines.
The area also bears evidence of revolt: a burned Ba’alat temple, inscriptions about slavery and overseers, and mentions of the “Gate of the Accursed One” — possibly Pharaoh’s gate.
Such details echo the Exodus narrative of defiance and departure.
Researchers also spotted a second possible reference to ‘Moshe’ (Moses) in the mine complex.
But Bar-Ron insists he isn’t chasing headlines.
“I took a very critical view towards finding the name ‘Moses’ or anything that could sound sensationalist,” he said.
“In fact, the only way to do serious work is to try to find elements that seem ‘Biblical,’ but to struggle to find alternative solutions that are at least as likely.”
Mainstream scholars, however, remain unconvinced.
Dr Thomas Schneider, Egyptologist at the University of British Columbia, dismissed the claims as “completely unproven and misleading,” warning that “arbitrary” letter identifications could warp our understanding of ancient history.
Still, the debate is heating up.
According to the Jerusalem Post, structured-light scans of the mines are set to expand the known inscription catalogue to “well over twenty” and will be posted as open-access 3D models later this year.
With the geographical spread of Proto-Sinaitic script from Egypt through Sinai into Canaan mapping neatly onto the biblical Exodus route, believers say the discovery is no coincidence.
Critics counter that the weathered carvings could simply be Semitic graffiti from migrant workers.
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