Eglon (City)

Biblical Text

Eglon is a city of southern Canaan that appears only in the book of Joshua.

• The alliance of five kings (Joshua 10:1-27): When the Gibeonites made peace with Israel, Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem gathered an army. He summoned Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, and together they attacked Gibeon (Joshua 10:3-5). The text calls them "the five kings of the Amorites." Joshua came to Gibeon's aid and defeated them, and the five kings, who had hidden in the cave at Makkedah, were captured and executed.
• Conquest (Joshua 10:34-35): After striking Lachish, Joshua advanced to Eglon and encamped against it. He took the city that day, and "all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish." Israel then went up from Eglon to Hebron (Joshua 10:36).
• List of defeated kings (Joshua 12:12): The king of Eglon appears in the list of Canaanite kings whom Joshua defeated.
• Inheritance of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:39): In the allotment of the land, Eglon is listed among the lowland cities given to the tribe of Judah, together with Lachish and Bozkath.

Background

Eglon lay in the low hill country between the Judean highlands and the western coastal plain. This region is called the Shephelah in Hebrew; the Korean Revised Version renders it "the plain," and the KJV "the valley." The biblical text portrays Eglon as lying near Lachish.

Its exact location has not been determined. In the late nineteenth century, its identification with Tell el-Hesi was widely accepted. Today many scholars reportedly identify it with Tel Eton (Tell 'Aitun). A "tell" is a mound formed by the layered remains of an ancient city.

The Hebrew name is understood to be related to the word egel, meaning "calf."

"Utterly destroy" translates the Hebrew herem. Rooted in the idea of wholly devoting to God the people and goods taken in war, the term came to mean complete destruction, leaving nothing behind.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

Eglon is one link in the account of the southern conquest in Joshua 10, which is set within the larger narrative of God giving Israel the land He had promised. Eglon does not appear in the New Testament. Hebrews, however, states that the land Joshua gave was not the fulfillment of true rest (Hebrews 4:8) and points to the rest that remains. This passage is often cited as an example of how the New Testament takes up and interprets the Canaan conquest narrative as a whole.

Interpretive Issues

• Others with the same name: The city of Eglon is distinct from Eglon king of Moab, who was killed by Ehud in Judges 3. Likewise, Debir king of Eglon merely shares his name with the city of Debir mentioned in Joshua 10:38.
• Nature of the conquest accounts: Interpreters differ on how to read the accounts of utter destruction. Conservative evangelical scholars generally regard them as actual history and explain them in the context of God's judgment on the sin of Canaan. Other scholars see them as the hyperbolic victory language common in ancient Near Eastern war records. Discussion also continues over how to correlate the archaeological evidence with the date of the conquest.