Eglon: The bullock; place of heifers.1. Chieftain or king of one of the Moabite tribes
(Judges 3:12-14)
Having entered into an alliance with Ammon and Amalek, he
overran the trans-Jordanic region, and then crossing the Jordan,
seized on Jericho, the "city of palm trees," which had been by
this time rebuilt, but not as a fortress. He made this city his
capital, and kept Israel in subjection for eighteen years. The
people at length "cried unto the Lord" in their distress, and he
"raised them up a deliverer" in Ehud (q.v.), the son of Gera, a
Benjamite.
2. A city in Judah, near Lachish
(Joshua 15:39) It was destroyed by
Joshua
(Joshua 10:5,6) It has been identified with Tell Nejileh,
6 miles south of Tell Hesy or Ajlan, north-west of Lachish.
(See LACHISH)
