Valley of Eshcol

Biblical Text

The Valley of Eshcol first appears in Numbers 13. The twelve spies, whom Moses sent out from the wilderness of Paran near Kadesh Barnea, passed through the Negev in the south and came to Hebron. Afterward, in this valley, they cut down a branch bearing a cluster of grapes, which two of them carried on a staff, and they also gathered pomegranates and figs (Numbers 13:23). The text explains the origin of the name: "The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence" (Numbers 13:24). The season is described as "the time of the firstripe grapes" (Numbers 13:20).

The valley is mentioned twice more. In Numbers 32:9, Moses recalls how the spies went up as far as the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, yet discouraged the people. In Deuteronomy 1:24–25, Moses likewise recounts how the spies brought fruit from this valley and reported that it was "a good land."

Background

Eshcol is the Hebrew word for a "cluster," as of grapes. The Hebrew word rendered "valley" (or "brook"), naḥal, is used of a stream valley that carries water only when it rains (a wadi).

The region around Hebron has long been known for its vineyards. Scholars locate the valley near Hebron, but the precise valley has not been identified. Genesis 14:13, 24 mentions an Amorite named Eshcol who lived near Hebron and was an ally of Abraham. Scholars are divided on whether this figure is connected with the place name.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The fruit the spies brought back was visible evidence that Canaan, the land God had promised, was a good land that "floweth with milk and honey" (Numbers 13:27). Yet ten of the spies, having seen the same land, gave a report shaped by fear of the giants and the fortified cities. Only Joshua and Caleb urged the people to go up, and because of their unbelief the people went on to spend forty years in the wilderness. The Valley of Eshcol is remembered as the setting of an episode in which the people held sure evidence of the promise in their hands and still did not believe.

The New Testament does not mention the Valley of Eshcol directly. However, Hebrews 3–4 warns its readers by pointing to the wilderness generation, which failed to enter into rest because of unbelief; in this way the episode as a whole is taken up in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Debated Points

Some Church Fathers and medieval interpreters are said to have read the cluster of grapes carried on a staff as a type of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross. The man carrying the front of the staff and the man carrying the rear were sometimes read as the Old and New Testaments, or as Jews and Gentiles, and such interpretations also appear in medieval art. Protestant readings often focus on the contrast between faith and unbelief that forms the context of the passage. A common homiletical application treats the cluster of grapes as a "foretaste" of the promise yet to be enjoyed.

The text says only that two men carried the cluster on a staff; it does not state the cluster's size or weight. Illustrations depicting an enormous cluster as tall as a man reflect later imagination. Nor does the text say whether two men carried it because of its size or to keep the fruit from being damaged. The image of two men carrying a cluster of grapes is reportedly used today as the emblem of Israel's Ministry of Tourism.