The difficulty of deciding the antiquity of the famous inscriptions in
the deserts of Arabia, would be considerably diminished if we could
ascertain the earliest mention of the valley now known as Wady Mokatteb.
What I am about to submit to the readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," is
not a presumptuous or rash suggestion, but an idea diffidently
entertained, and cautiously and maturely considered.
It is not at all improbable that that valley, with its surrounding rocky
chronicles, was first mentioned by Moses, the first delineator of the
"great wilderness." The mention I allude to is to be found in Numbers,
xi. 26. The passage, as it occurs in the English version, runs thus:
"But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one
was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad; and the Spirit rested
upon them, and they were of them that were written."