RACAL

ra'-kal (rakhal, "trader"): A place in Judah, enumerated among "the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt," to the elders of which he sent a share of his spoils (1 Samuel 30:29). The Septuagint reading "Carmel" has been adopted, by many, because of the similarity of the words in Hebrew (rakal and karmel) and because there was a Carmel in the neighborhood of Hebron (Joshua 15:55; 1 Samuel 15:12), which figures in the story of David's adventures when pursued by Saul (1 Samuel 25) in a manner that makes it improbable that he would overlook the place in his good fortune (the King James Version "Rachal").

Nathan Isaacs

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.