Eglon

The name Eglon belongs to a Moabite king and to a city of Canaan. The Moabite Eglon is the oppressor whom Ehud assassinates in Judges 3; the Canaanite city is one of the five whose king Joshua executes after the southern campaign and which is later allotted to Judah.

Eglon, King of Moab

The Moabite Eglon is set up by Yahweh as the rod of Israel's discipline: "And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh" (Jud 3:12). With the Ammonites and Amalekites in his coalition, Eglon takes the city of palm-trees and rules over Israel for eighteen years (Jud 3:13-14).

The deliverer is Ehud, "the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man," sent with the tribute (Jud 3:15). Ehud prepares a hidden two-edged sword and presents the tribute to Eglon, who is described in passing as "a very fat man" (Jud 3:17). After dismissing the tribute-bearers, Ehud returns alone, claims a secret message, and is admitted to the cool upper room where Eglon sits alone: "And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. And he arose out of his seat" (Jud 3:20). The killing follows in two verses: "And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body: and the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind" (Jud 3:21-22).

Ehud locks the doors and escapes (Jud 3:23, 26); the slaves delay long enough for him to reach Seirah and rally Ephraim. The result is the recovery of the Jordan fords, the slaughter of about ten thousand Moabite men, and a long peace: "So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest 80 years" (Jud 3:30).

Eglon, a City of Canaan

A separate Eglon — a city in the southern Shephelah — figures in Joshua's campaign against the southern coalition. After the five allied kings are taken from the cave at Makkedah, Eglon's king is named with the others: "And they did so, and brought forth those five kings to him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon" (Jos 10:23). The city itself is captured in the same campaign and devoted to destruction: "and they took it on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword; and all the souls who were in it he completely destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish" (Jos 10:35).

In the territorial allotment, Eglon appears in the Shephelah list of Judah's inheritance, beside Lachish and Bozkath: "Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon" (Jos 15:39).