Eglon
the bullock; place of heifers. (1.) Chieftain or king of one of
the Moabite tribes (Judg. 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 (Josh. 15:39). It was
destroyed by 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.)