ESHCOL:

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Eduard König

• 1. Brother of Mamre and Aner. The three brothers were princes of the Amorites and allies of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 13), whom they supported in his expedition against Chedorlaomer.
• 2. The valley from which the spies cut the large cluster of grapes which they carried back to the camp of the Israelites as a proof of the fruitfulness of the land (Num. xiii. 23 et seq., xxxii. 9; Deut. i. 24). They entered this valley from Hebron; hence it lay in the vicinity of that city. To the north of the present El-Khalil there is a Wadi Tuffaḥ, which is still famous for the size of its grapes. In Num. xiii. 24 it is said that at the time of Moses the valley received the name of "Eshcol" (grape) because of the cluster which had been found there.

E. G. H. E. K.