Carmel

(Do you want Mount Carmel instead?)

A town located about 13km south-east of Hebron, in the Judean wilderness. It is first mentioned only in passing in the account of Saul's failure to destroy Agag (1 Sam 15:1-9). When Samuel was told of this through the word of the Lord, and went in search of Saul the next morning, he was told that "Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honour and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal" (v12). The "monument in his own honour" probably referred to a victory stele that ancient kings habitually set up to celebrate their triumph in war.

More importantly, Carmel was the home of the wealthy but "surly and mean in his dealing" sheep-owner Nabal and his "intelligent and beautiful" wife Abigail (1 Sam 25:2-3). David and his men had moved into the region when he sought the hospitality of Nabal. Nabal, however, gave David such a dress-down it provoked David enough to want to destroy the man. Fortunately, news of the impending disaster reached Abigail, who quickly organized a party bearing gifts to meet David, who was thus appeased (1 Sam 25:14-37). When Nabal died, David asked to marry Abigail.

Carmel was, in fact, more important as a town than the incidental nature of the biblical accounts makes it out to be. The Judean wilderness, though sparely populated, was an important region of the sheep breeding industry. It was also politically and strategically important and, as a result, was guarded against foreign intrusions by two—an outer and an inner—lines of fortress. Carmel formed one of the fortresses on the inner circle.