ESCHOL ('eshōl “grape cluster”). – An Aramean, brother of Mambre, one of Abram’s allies, who followed him in the raid against Chodorlahomor, king of Elam (Gen. 14:13, 24).
The “valley of E.” (Volg. torrens botri), given the relationship with Mambre mentioned above, is to be sought in the vicinity of Hebron (Gen. 13:18), somewhat to the north (Num. 13:23 ff.); today it is the el-Haskeh valley. There the Israelite explorers found the marvelous grape, which they brought back as a sample of the fertility of the Promised Land (Num. 13:24 ff.; 32:9; Deut. 1:24).
BIBL.: E. Mader, Les fouilles allemandes au Râmes el-Khalif, in Revue biblique, 37 (1930), pp. 217–19; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, I, Parigi 1933, p. 493 ff.; F. Zorelli, Lexicon hebraicum, I, Roma 1940, p. 85; A. Clamet, Les Nombres (La Ste Bible, ed. L. Pirot, 2), Parigi 1946, p. 320.