Eshcol
Bunch; brave. (1.) A young Amoritish chief who joined Abraham in the recovery of Lot from the hands of Chedorlaomer (Gen 14:13, Gen 14:24).
(2.) A valley in which the spies obtained a fine cluster of grapes (Num 13:23, Num 13:24; “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.
Named in the Bible
6 verses
- Genesis 14:13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.
- Genesis 14:24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.
- Numbers 13:23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
- Numbers 13:24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
- Numbers 32:9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them.
- Deuteronomy 1:24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
