ESEBON
297
ESHEAN
in ctisi N. T. p. 48 sq.) ; Ewald, Das vierte Ezrahuch (Giitt. 18G4) ; Calinet, Sur le quatrieme litre d'J-Jsdras (ill liis Commentaire, iii, 253 sq.) ; Greswell, Second Book of Esdras (in his Par(ibles,Y, ii, 280 sq.). The book has been the subject of a prolonged discussion, especiallj'^ by Hilgenfeld in the Zeitschr.f. wiss. Theol. 1858-G7.— Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v.
Es'ebon, They of (ot 'Ealj^^oviral v, r. ol 'E(T£- jSwj^, Vulg. Jlcsebon), a Griecized form of the name of certain Canaanites beyond Jordan referred to in the Apocrj-pha (Jud. v, 15) as having been destroyed by the Israelites; evidently the inhabitants of Heshbon (q. V.) of the O. T. (Num. xxi, 26).
Ese'brias ('Eafpf/i/rtc, Vulg. Sedebias), the first named of the ten priests separated with ten others by Ezra to transport the silver and gold from Babylon to Jerusalem (1 Esd. viii, 54) ; evidently the Sherebiah (q. V.) of the Heb. text (Ezra viii, 24).
E'sek (Heb. id. pw>, quarrel; Sept. and Vulg. translate 'kSiKta, calumnia, as if reading "p'Cii"), a well ("iXZ) containing a spring of water, which the herds- men of Isaac dug in the valley of Gerar, and which re- ceived its name because the herdmen of Gerar quar- relled (IpVil^'Pil, u-ranr)led^ Sept. >]c\.K)]nav , Vulg. evas- ively, A. V. "strove;" but different from the !l3'^"i'=i1 of the preceding clause, tfiaxilToiTo, jurr/ium Juit, "strove") with him for the possession of it (Gen. xxvi, 20). Isaac seems to have therefore relinquished it. It appears not to have been one of those which Abraham had previouslj'' dug (ver. 18 ; the contest there was a question of title, here of ^lossessioii). There are still several wells in this vicinity. See Gekar.
Esh'baal [some Esh-ba'(d'\ (Heb. ^«i«'((/, br2d^^) in pause b^"3"vN, man of Baal ; Sept. 'AaajiuX v. r. 'If/3«X and 13«a'/\,Vulg. Eshaal), the appropriate name of the fourth son of king Saul, according to the gene- alogy of 1 Chron. viii, 33 and ix, 39. He is doubtless the same person (sec 1 Sam. xxxi, 2, compared with 2 Sam. ii, 8) as Isii-bosiietii (q. v.), since it was the practice to change the obnoxious name of Baal into Bosheth or Besheth, as in the case of Jerub-besheth for Jerub-baal, and (in this verj- genealog}') of Merib-baal for Mephi-bosheth : compare also Hos. ix, 10, where Bosheth (A.V. "shame") appears to be used as a syn- onym for Baal. See Baal.
Esh'ban (Heb. Eslihan', "(^i'O^^man of considera- tian ; Sept. 'Acreliuv and 'Ecrefiiii' v. r. 'A(Tf/3wj', Vulg. Esehaii), the second named of the four sons of Dishan (Gen. xxxvi, 26, A.V. "Dishon") or Dishon (1 Chron. i, 41), the son of Seir the llorite. B. C. post 1963.
Esh'col (Heb. EshJcol', b'S^^X [twice plene ^iz'r X, Num. xiii, 24 ; xxxiii, 9], a bunch of grapes), the name of a man and also of a place.
1. (Sept. 'EffxwA, Josephus 'E(TYwA?;e, Vulg. Eschol.) A young Amoritish chieftain, who, wiih his brothers Mamre and Aner, being in alliance with Abraham, when the latter resided near Hebron, joined him in the recovery of Lot from tlie hands of Chedorlaomer and liis confederates (Gen. xiv, 13, 24 ; comp. xiii, 18). B.C. cir. 2085. According to Josephus {Ant. i, 10, 2) he was the foremost of the three brothers, but the Bilde narrative leaves this quite uncertain (comp. ver. 13 witli 24). Some have thought that the name of Esh- col remained attached to one of the fruitful valleys in that district till the arrival of the Israelites (Num. xiii, 24), who then interpreted the appellation as sig- nificant of the gigantic "cluster" (in Hebr. eshcoP) \vhich they obtained tiiere; but this does not accord with the independent origin of the latter name as as- signed in the narrative (see below).
2. A tradi/ (bn3, winter-torrent ; Sept. and Vulg. [translating bkcwise the name itself] (papa^ (36r(wo(;, vallis botri, or [Num. xiii, 24] Nehelescol; A. V. " brook"
and "valley") in which the Hebrew spies obtained the fine cluster of grapes which they took back with them, borne "on a staff between two," as a specimen of the fruits of the Promised Land (Num. xiii, 24). The cluster was doubtless large ; but the fact that it was carried in this manner does not, as usually understood, imply that the bunch was as much as two men could carry, seeing that it was probably so carried to prevent its being bruised in the journey. See Grape. From the fact that the name had existed in this neighbor- hood centuries before, when Abraham lived there with the chiefs Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, not Hebrews, but Amorites (see Gen. xiv, 13), manj' have supposed that the appellation in this instance ("because of the clus- ter," bisdxn, Sept. /idrpj'c, Vulg. torrens hotri') was merely the Hebrew waj' of appropriating the ancient name derived from that hero into the language of the conquerors, consistently with the paronomastic turus so much in fiivor at tliat time, and with a practice traces of which ai'e deemed to appear elsewhere ; but it is more probable that the same reason which led the Israelites to apply to the valley such a designation, had operated also among the original possessors of the soil. In that c; se tlie Amoritish chieftain may have been so called (that dialect being doubtless akin to the Heb.) from his fertile region. From the terms of two of the notices of this transaction (Num. xxxii, 9 ; Deut. i, 24), it might be inferred that Eshcol was the farthest point to which the spies penetrated; but this would contradict the express statement of Num. xiii, 21, that the}^ went as far northward as Kehob. They must, therefore, either have carried the bunch of grapes this whole distance and back, or, as is more likeh', they cut it on their return. From the context (Num. xiii, 22), the valley in question seems to have been in the vicinity of Hebron. Accordingly, the val- ley through which lies the commencement of the road from Hebron to Jerusalem is traditionally indicated as that of Eshcol. This valley is now full of vine- 3-ards and olivc-j'ards, the former chief]}' in the val- ley itself, the latter up the sides of the inclosing hills. "These vineyards are still verj' fine, and produce the finest and largest grapes in all the countrj'" (Robinson, Researchcit, i, 817). Eusebius, however {Onomast. s. v. (pc'ipayK. fturpvoc), places it, with some hesitation, at Gophna, 15 miles north of Jerusalem, on the Neapolis road. By Jerome it is given as north of Hebron, on the road to Bethsur (Ejntaj^h. Paula). The Jewish traveller Ha-Parchi speaks of it as north of the moun- tain on which the (ancient) city of Heljron stood (Ben- jamin of Tudela, ed. Asher, ii, 437) ; and here the name has apparently been observed still attached to a spring of remarkal>ly fine Avater called ' Ain-Eshdi, in a valley which crosses the vale of Hebron north-east and south- west, and about two miles north of the town (Van de Velde, Narrative, ii, 64). Dr. Eosen, however, still more recentlj', wiites the name as Ain el-Jiaskkala {Zeitschr. d. morgpul. Geselhch. 1858, p. 481).