View from Mount Carmel
1. This name has generally the article, and signifies “the park” or fruitful place. A mountain 12 miles in length that runs from the plain of Esdraelon in Galilee, in a N. W. direction toward the Mediterranean, where it forms a notable promontory, the only one in Palestine. It was the scene of Elijah’s contest with the priests of Baal, that led to their destruction (1 Kings 18:19-40). One part towards its east end is still called Makrakah, “place of burning,” the traditional spot of the above encounter. There Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord: this may have been erected before the temple was built, and been broken down, but its moral bearing is obvious. God vindicated His servant, and answered by fire from heaven. A perennial well nearby would, notwithstanding the drought, have supplied the water Elijah needed. The spot is about 1,600 feet above the sea, and Elijah’s servant had to go but a short distance to have the Mediterranean in view and to watch for a cloud.
View from Mount Carmel, Looking Toward the Sea
The mountain was afterward the residence of Elisha, where he was visited by the Shunammite woman on the death of her child (2 Kings 4:25). It is well wooded with shrubberies and brushwood (Isa. 33:9; Mic. 7:14), and is beautiful with the multitude of its flowers, in fact the spot is declared to be even now the fragrant lovely mountain as of old. In Song of Solomon 7:5 the head of the bride is compared to Carmel. It is now called Abel Kurmul.
2. City in the hill-country of Judah (Josh. 15:55), the abode of Nabal and Abigail the Carmelitess (1 Sam. 25:2-40). Identified with el Kurmul, 31° 26' N, 35° 8' E. It is probable that 1 Samuel 15:12 refers to this city; also 2 Chronicles 26:10, unless the word there is translated “fruitful fields,” as in the margin and RV. All other passages refer to No. 1.