That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 24. Torrent. Septuagint “vale.”—Its. Hebrew “one cluster.”—Two men, Josue and Caleb; (S. Maximus) though the Rabbins say they carried nothing.—Lever, or staff, suspending it thus, in order that it might not be crushed. In that valley, Doubdan (i. 21,) was assured by the religious, that clusters, weighing twelve pounds, might still be found. Pliny (xiv. 1,) says, there are some in Africa, larger than a male infant. Strabo (xi.) describes some in Carmania, two cubits high. Forster saw a religious man at Nurenberg, who had lived eight years in Palestine, and assured him that two men could hardly carry a bunch of grapes, such as grew in the vale of Hebron: ( Calmet.) but this may seem to be an hyperbole. Bible.—Lucas ( Tirinus. i. p. 310,) assures us, that he had seen a bunch at Damascus, weighing above forty pounds. The Fathers here contemplate Jesus Christ, suspended between the two testaments, the synagogue and the Church: the juice, or blood of the grape, (Genesis 49:2. Deuteronomy 22:14,) denotes his passion. Saint Jerome ep. ad Fab. Saint Bernard in Cant. ser. 44. Calmet.