is sealing the deal with god, that s when they build the golden calf. reporter: when moses came down from the mountain with the commandments, he was shocked to find they had abandoned all self-control, drinking, carousing, and worse, worshiping a false idol. he s furious. god s furious. moses smashes the tablets. ultimately, everybody shapes up and moses goes back up the mountain for a second shot at it. reporter: we ve made it to the top of mount sinai. the sun has risen and we re amongst pilgrims from all over the world. and perhaps the sheer physical effort of getting up here pretty rough. adds to the spirituality. glory, glory hallelujah the view is out of this
monastery. you must have had so many pilgrims visiting here. what is it you think they take away? they become aware that you have to be away from the distractions and the routines of modern life to really become aware of god s presence. according to the bible and the koran, which names him the prophet mussa, this is where moses married a local girl, had a few children, and became a shepherd, a seemingly simple existence for the man who would go on to lead the exodus. but as the bible tells it, his time as a shepherd was the perfect preparation for what was to come. every prophet was a shepherd at one point. being a shepherd softens the heart of the prophet, prepares him for being a shepherd of a community, not only shepherd of cattle. meanwhile, far away on the banks of the river nile the bible says that moses
must have had some meaning during the time of moses. even if they seem puzzling to us today. if you re wearing a fabric, you are not allowed to mix that fabric, wool and linen, together. if you ask the rabbis why, the answer is i don t know, god commanded it. reporter: god also commanded moses to build a portable temple for the tablets called the ark of the covenant. the bibles tells us the exact dimensions, it s a box, it s got long handles, it s supposed to have cherubim, or angels sort of on the top. reporter: archaeologists have found evidence that boxes such as these were common in biblical times, suggesting that the ark and its contents may have actually existed. and that would have come in handy because it was a long time before moses and his people had a permanent place to settle. according to the bible, the israelites were constantly on
world. and it seems fitting that this is the first and only place the bible says man ever came face to face with god. no matter what your faith, what happened here, this part of the exodus story, this part of moses story has affected all of us for millennia. his truth is marching on [ speaking foreign language ] reporter: the ten commandments tell us not to kill, not to steal, not to lie. they tell us to worship and love god completely, to honor a day of rest, and to honor our mother and father. they have left an indelible mark on our moral code and our civil law. and in a sense they re an early unifying response to the chaos and cruelty of the world, a declaration that with freedom comes responsibility. it s why the statue of liberty, which was modeled on moses, the tablets in her arms,
and nearby we met betsy bryan, an american archaeologist who s unearthing clues about this place and its people. all the digging that s gone on for the last several hundred years, has that enabled us to reach a conclusion about history, about even the biblical stories? well, i think that there s always a new conclusion. you know, the conclusions keep changing, and people s ideas keep changing as a result of archaeology and historical study. so there are always surprises. there are always surprises. reporter: and that s exactly what bryan and her team have been finding. amidst the ruins of a temple that was used during the biblical time of moses. how significant is this dig? this is where the workers worked and also where they lived. because we have a temple over here but you also have to have things like bread making, beer making. but surprise is that this year we started to get a lot of human