* Having given ' earnest ' as one meaning of ' effectual ' when used of prayers, the Oi^f. Eng. Diet. («.p.) adds: 'Of. Anglo- Lat. effectuose suirplicantfs "earnestly entreating," a.d. 1229 in Rymer, I. 308. Perhaus this use was originally due to confusion with affectual; but the translators of AV ingeniously availed themselves of it in Ja 6ii to render Gr. iHp>«fum.' It is to be observe<I, howexer, that AV uses two words, 'effectual fervent,' for this one Or. word. Tindale'i tr. ia ' if it be fer\-ent.'
Jer 46™ 50", Hos 4" 10", in all of which ' heifer is similarly used), but thinks it more probahle that the reference is to Zoar (Is) or Horonaim (Jer) as beautiful, strong, and hitherto unsubdued cities. In Is 15' after 'Z-qyuip (Zoar) LXX has ddjuaXts yiip i(jTtv rpierTjs, referring to Moab. In Jer 48 [Gr. 31] ** the MSS show a perple.\ing variety of readings (see Swete). B has, after HorDnaim, Kai dyveWav SaXacrtid. Aq. and Symm., however, had 5d/xa\is rpimis (see Field).
Literature. — Comm. on Is and Jer ; BaudlsaiQ In SK, 1888, p. 609 ff.; Dietrich lo Ment" Arehiv, i. 8420.
J. A. Selbie.
EGLON (t'l'?!!.;). — A king of Moab who, upon the relapse of the children of Israel into idolatry after the death of Othniel, was the divine instrument for punishing them. He is represented as forming a confederation with Amalek and Ammon,* and in conjunction with them taking possession of Jericho ('the city of palm trees, Jg 3").t For eighteen years he ruled over tliem, till a deliverer arose in the person of Ehud, of the clan of Gera of the tribe of Benjamin. With the excuse oi taking Eglon his tribute (or, perhaps, a present), Ehud with a retinue of servants went to the king's court. The king, we are told, in ordei that we may understand what is coming, was a very fat man. The present was offered, and tlie whole party started on their way home again. When they reached the graven images (LXX, Vulg. AVm, RVm), or perhaps graven stones (by some connected with the twelve stones of Jos 4*), or the quarries (AV, RV, following Tar". Syr.),! Ehud went back to the king by himself, and, l)y giving hira to believe that he had a secret to com- mimicate to him, obtained an interview with hira by himself alone. He was sitting in his cool upper-chamber. Now that he has the king by himself, Ehud claims that his message for the king is from God, upon which Eglon rises out of respect to the source of the message. Ehud then draws his two-edged dagger, taking advantage of his left -handedness, which would enable him to do so without much notice being taken of his act, and stabs E. with such force that the dagger, haft and all, goes into him, while tlie fat closes upon the blade.§ It is some little time before the murder of E. is discovered, and meanwhile Ehud has escaped and summoned his countrymen to the destruction of the Moabites on the W. of Jordan with such success, that ' the land had rest fourscore years.'
Jos. {Ant. V. iv.) makes several additions to, and variations in, the story told in the Book of Judges ; that E. built a palace at Jericho ; that Ehud also dwelt there, and became familiar with E. by means of his presents, and was beloved by E.'s courtiers. Ehud gathers the Israelites together to destroy Moab almost before his murder of E. is known.
LrrRRATURB, — For the latest description of the history of Eglon, see Moore, yu<2ge<, 89 ft. H. A. RedPATH.
EGLON (fsSji;).— An ancient town in the She- phelah, close to Lachish. Its king, Debir, joined in the alliance formed by the kin" of Jerus. against the Isr. underJoshua, and after the battle of Aijalon it was captured and destroyed (Jos IQi*' 12'-). It is not again named in Scripture, so that it was prob. utterly destroyed. In LXX, cf. Jos 10, Adullam takes its place by some (prob.) early mistake, they
• This is held to be an exaggeration of D by those who dis- tinguish various hands in this book ; see, however, Ps 838- 7, which seems to refer to the period of the Judges.
t The fortifications, at anv rate, of Jericho must have beei in niins (cf. Jos fi* n-ith 1 K 18"), but we are never told that the ruins left from the burning of Jericho were pulled down.
I The notion that they were iKjundary stones or iniagei scan-ely deserved mention.
} For the meaning of the last clause of verw '^ see Mocrft pp. 97, 98.
EGYPT
EGYPT
653
are in consequence identified in the Onomasticon. The name remains in 'Ajldn, some 15 miles N.E. from Gaza and 2 miles N. of Tell Hesy, now con- clusively identified with the ancient Lachish. But Flinders Petrie (PEFSt, 1S90, pp. 161-103) points out Tell Nejileh as probahly the true site. KhUrbet 'AjlAn his practised eye pronounced un- likely to be the site of an ancient town. On the other hand, ' it is certain,' he savs, ' that Tell Hesy and subordinately Tell Nejilch must have been positions of lirst-rate importance from the time of the earliest settlements ; they would then a^ree to the character of Lachish and Eglon. The history of Tell Hesy begins about B.C. 1500, and ends about B.C. 500 ; while Tell Nejileh, as far as can be seen on the surface, is of the same age, or mined even earlier.' 'There are no sites in the country around bo suited to the importance of Lachisli and Eglon as these two Tells.' To this may be added, that the course of Joshua (ch. 10) brought him first to Lacliish — Eglon lying between Lacliish and Hebron ; and the position of Tell Nejileh suits this account better than that of 'AjUn. See Lachish.