Mount Sinai is Jabal Qidr volcano in Harrat Khaybar, Medina where ancient stone structures are found

Watch the whole Youtube video “Exodus route 2 - Locating Mount Sinai, the Desert of Sin, Rephidim & the Desert of Paran”.

 

A suggested possible naturalistic explanation by many scholars about the Biblical devouring fire seen in Sinai is that it could have been an erupting volcano, and I totally agree. Ḥarrat Khaybar is a volcanic field located north of Medina in the Hejaz, Saudi Arabia. It covers an area approximately 12,000 square kilometers. There were 603,550 men over 20 years old at the time of the Exodus. That probably would mean at least half a million family units, each including a wife and a couple of children, for a total of two million in the camp. And that is likely a conservative estimate. Each family seemingly had a small flock of sheep and other animals used to transport their stuff. Their camp may easily have occupied over 1000 square miles or over 2,590 square kilometers. Clearly, the Harrat Khaybar volcanic field is more than large enough to accommodate the camping Israelites and their flocks, unlike the Sinai Peninsula.

There are three main volcanoes in this volcanic field: the two White Mountains of Harrat Khaybar named Jabal Abyad and Jabal Bayda, which derive their light appearance from comendite. Jabal Abyad, at an elevation of 2,093 meters, is the tallest volcano in Saudi Arabia. These mountains contrast with the darker appearance of the hawaiite lava flows and domes which dominate the lava fields of the third volcano Jabal Qidr. Anyone of these three volcanoes could have been “The Mount Sinai”, but I am biased towards Jabal Qidr which has a darker appearance and whose name in Arabic translates to “mountain pot” emphasizing its active volcano status.

It is estimated that the Israelites camped near Mount Sinai for almost a year. More than a million people camping near Mount Sinai for almost a year surely means there must be evidence of their sojourn there. And indeed there are, and quite plenty of them! 

livescience.com,  400 Mysterious Ancient Stone Structures Discovered in Saudi Arabia by Owen Jarus published October 17, 2017: Almost 400 mysterious stone structures dating back thousands of years have been discovered in Saudi Arabia. Many of the stone walls, which archaeologists call "gates" because they resemble field gates from above, were found in clusters in a region in west-central Saudi Arabia called Harrat Khaybar. The smallest of the gates extends about 13 meters, while the longest is 518 m long, or longer than an NFL football field. Many have multiple stone walls that, in some instances, form a rectangular design; some of the others, called "I" type gates, have only one stone wall with heaps of stone at each end.

According to those who discovered these structures, "no obvious explanation of their purpose can be discerned." I beg to disagree. The rectangular gates are obviously animal pens which the millions of Israelites during the Exodus used to protect and control their livestock. The “I” type gates were limits or barricades erected to prevent the Israelites from approaching the foot of Mount Sinai:

Exodus 19: 12  Put limits to the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.