contrast with LDS Hymns, no. 255
“As if to prove that no Westerner could possibly have dreamed up Nephi’s account, we are challenged by the remarkable expression, ‘like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable …’ Who west of Suez would ever think of such an image? … The Arabs, to be sure. For them the valley, and not the mountain, is the symbol of permanence. It is not the mountain of refuge to which they flee, but the valley of refuge. The great depressions that run for hundreds of miles across the Arabian peninsula pass for the most part through plains devoid of mountains. It is in these ancient riverbeds alone that water, vegetation, and animal life are to be found when all else is desolation. They alone offer men and animals escape from their enemies and deliverance from death by hunger and thirst. The qualities of firmness and steadfastness, of reliable protection, refreshment, and sure refuge when all else fails, which other nations attribute naturally to mountains, the Arabs attribute to valleys.” (Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, pp.105-106)