Carmel
(fruitful place or park). A mountain which forms one of the most striking and characteristic features of the country of Palestine. It is a noble ridge, the only headland of lower and central Palestine, and forms its southern boundary, running out with a bold bluff promontory, nearly 600 feet high, almost into the very waves of the Mediterranean, then extending southeast for a little more than twelve miles, when it terminates suddenly in a bluff somewhat corresponding to its western end. In form Carmel is a tolerably continuous ridge, its highest point, about four miles from the eastern end, being 1740 feet above the sea. That which has made the name of Carmel most familiar to the modern world is its intimate connection with the history of the two great prophets of Israel, Elijah and Elisha. ( 2 Kings 2:25 ; 4:25 ; 1 Kings 18:20-42 ) It is now commonly called Mar Elyas; Kurmel being occasionally, but only seldom, hear. A town in the mountainous country of Judah, ( Joshua 15:55 ) familiar to us as the residence of Nabal. ( 1 Samuel 25:2 , 5 , 7 , 40 )