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 (1Sa 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 (Jos 15:55; 1Sa 15:12), which figures in the story of David's adventures when pursued by Saul (1Sa 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

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