Eshcol in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("cluster".) 1. An Amorite chief, Mamre's brother, ally to Abram in his expedition against Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14:13; Genesis 14:24). 2. Valley or Eshcol. A wady in southern Canaan, somewhere in the vinebearing district (miles of hill sides and valleys covered with small stone heaps for training vines) between Hebron (Genesis 13:18; Genesis 14:13) and Kadesh, but nearer Kadesh (Ain-el-Gadis) on the northern frontier of the peninsula, the Negeb or the "south." From Kadesh the spies went and returned with grapes of Eshcol, which cannot be near Hebron, for grapes could not well be brought such a distance as that between Hebron and Kadesh, and the spies would court secrecy and haste (Numbers 13:24). The Amorite chief's name originated the designation of the valley Eshcol, which Israel afterward interpreted in the suitable sense cluster. Most identify Eshcol with the rich valley N. of Hebron, described by Robinson as producing the largest grapes in Israel, where a fount is still called Ain Eskaly (Van de Velde).