eshcol Summary and Overview

bunch; brave. (1.) A young Amoritish chief who joined Abraham in the recovery of Lot from the hands of Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:13, 24). (2.) A valley in which the spies obtained a fine cluster of grapes (Num. 13:23, 24; "the brook Eshcol," A.V.; "the valley of Eshcol," R.V.), which they took back with them to the camp of Israel as a specimen of the fruits of the Promised Land. On their way back they explored the route which led into the south (the Negeb) by the western edge of the mountains at Telilat el-'Anab, i.e., "grape-mounds", near Beersheba. "In one of these extensive valleys, perhaps in Wady Hanein, where miles of grape-mounds even now meet the eye, they cut the gigantic clusters of grapes, and gathered the pomegranates and figs, to show how goodly was the land which the Lord had promised for their inheritance.", Palmer's Desert of the Exodus.

(cluster of grapes), brother of Mamre the Amorite and of Aner, and one of Abraham's companions in his pursuit of the four kings who had carried off Lot. #Ge 14:13,24| (B.C. 1912.).

ESH'COL (cluster), one of Abraham's allies. Gen 14:13,Gen 14:24.

("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).