This was a mountain in the land of Judea, near the Mediterranean sea. It took its name from the fruitfulness of it, being covered with vines and corn - fields. (See Isa. xxxv. 2. Amos i. 2, ) Hence Christ, when describing his church’s beauty, saith, Thine head upon thee is like Carmel:" (Song 7: 5.) meaning, no doubt, himself; for Christ is "the Head of his body the church, the fulness which filleth all in all." (Eph. i. 2’2, 23.) Here it was the prophet Elijah did such wonders by faith, to the glory of God. (See 1 Kings 18:)
(Hebrew: garden, or garden land)
A mountain 9 miles southwest of Acre, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, as fertile, blessed, beautiful. There was an altar on it long before the prophet Elias’s time, and he, and Eliseus after him, resided there. Probably it was there he caused fire to come down from heaven. (4 Kings 1), and there his sacrifice was consumed by fire from above, after the sacrifice of the prophets of the false god Baal had remained unconsumed, whereupon they were all put to death (3 Kings 18). The Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel preserves the tradition that from the days of Elias and Eliseus there had always been a succession of hermits on Carmel, and that in the time of the Crusades they had organized themselves like the Western religious orders.