2. (Sept. 'Ey\wix v. r. AlXd/x, but in Josh, x, 'Ot^oX- Xf//f ; Vulgate Eglon, Aglon.') A city in the maritime plain of Judah, near Lachish (Josh, xv, 39), formerly one of the royal cities of the Canaanites (xii, 12). Its Amoritish king Debir (q. v.) formed a confederacy with the neighboring princes to assist Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, in attacking Gibeon, because that city had made peace with Joshua and the Israelites (Josh. X, 3, 4). Joshua met the confederated kings near Gibeon and routed them (Josh, x, 11). Eglon was soon after visited bj' Joshua and destroyed (x, 34, 35). Eusebius and Jerome (^Ommuist. s. v. 'EyXw/K, Eglon) erroneouslj' identif}' it with Odollam or Adul- LAJi (q. v.), and say it was still "a large village," ten R. miles (.Jerome, twelve) east of Eleutheropolis, being misled by the unaccountable reading of the Sept. as above. On the road from Eleutheropolis to Gaza, nine miles from the former and twelve from the lat- ter, are the ruins of Ajlan, which mark the site of the ancient Eglon (Robinson, Researches, ii, 392). The site is now completely desolate. The ruins are mere shape- less heaps of rubbish, strewn over a low, white mound (Porter, Handh. for Syria, p. 262). The absence of more imposing remains is easily accounted for. The private houses, like those of Damascus, were built of sun-dried bricks ; and the temples and fortifications of the soft calcareous stone o'f the district, which soon crumbles away. A large mound of rubbish, strewn with stones and pieces of potter^', is all we can now expect to mark the site of an ancient city in this plain (Van de Velde, Narrative, ii, 188 ; Thomson, Land and Book, ii, 356).
3. Another important place of this name ("IPS"), according to Schwarz {Pahst. p. 235), is mentioned in Talmudical authorities as situated within the bounds of Gad. He identifies it with the present village Ajlun, one mile east of Kulat er-Rubud, or Wady Rejib, which runs parallel with Jebel Ajlun on the south (see Rob- inson's Map, and comp. Researches, ii, 121). The vil- lage is built on both sides of the narrow rivulet Jenne, and contains nothing remarkable except a few ancient mosques (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 2G6).
Egoism. See Selfishness.
E'gypt (or, more strictl}', yEgypt, since the word
is but Anglicized from the Gr. and Lat. AlyvvTOQ^ yEgyjJtus), a region important from the earliest times, and more closely identified with Bible incidents than any other, excej)! the IIolj' Land itself. Eor a vindi- cation of the harmony between Scripture historj' and the latest results of Egyptological research (Brugsch, Aus dem Orient, Berl. 1864), see Volck in the Dorpater Zeitschrlft, 1867, ii, art. 2.
I. Names. — The common name of Egj'pt in the Heb. Bible is Mizraim, Q^'nri'a, Mitsra'yim (or, more fnWj, "the land of Mizraim"). In form Mizraim is a dual, and accordingly it is generallj' joined with a plural verb. When, therefore, in Gen. x, 6, IMizraim i.s men- tioned as a son of Ham, some conclude that nothing more is meant than that Egypt was colonized Ijy de- scendants of Ham. See Mizraim. The dual number doubtless indicates the natural division of the country into an upper and a lower region, the plain of the Del- ta and the narrow valley above, as it has been com- monly divided at all times. The singular Muzor, 1i:i^, 3[atsor', also occurs (2 Kings xix, 24; Isa. xxxvii, 25; perhaps as a proper name in Isa. xix, 6; Mic. vii, 12; A. V. always as an appellative, "besieged city," etc.), and some suppose that it indicates Lower Egypt, the dual only properly meaning the whole country ; but there is no sure ground for this assertion. See Mazor. The mention of Mizraim and Pathros together (Isa. xi, 11 ; Jer. xliv, 1, 15), even if we adopt the explanation which supposes JlJiziaiin to be in these places by a late usage put for Mazor, b}' no means proves that, since Pathros is a part of Egypt, Mizraim, or rather Mazor," is here a part also. The mention of a part of a country by the same term as the whole is very usual in Hebrew phraseology. This designa- tion, at all events, is sometimes used for Egypt indis- criminately, and was by the later Arabs extended to the entire country. Josephus {Ant. i, 6, 2) saj'S that all those who inhabit the countiy call it Mestre (I\!t'(r- rpif), and the Egyptians Mestireann (Mscrrpnioi). The natives of IModern Egypt invariably designate it by the name 3Iis}; evidently cognate with its ancient Heb. appellation (Hackett's Ilhisira. rf Scripiure, p. 120).
Egypt is also called in the Bible CH V^^S;, " the land of Ham" (Psa. cv, 23, 27; comp. Ixxviii, 51), refer- ring to the son of Koah. See Ham. Occasionally (Psa. Ixxxvii, 4; Ixxxix, 10; Isa. Ii, 9) it is poetical- ly styled Ra'hab, 3^'^, i. e. "the proud" or "inso- lent." See Rahab. The common ancient Egyptian
name of the countrj' is written in hieroglj-phics
KEM, which was probably pronounced Chem ; the de- motic form is KEMI (Brugsch, Geographische Inschrif- ten, i, 73, No. 362) ; and the Coptic forms are Chaml- or Chemi (ISIemphitic), Kerne or Kerne (Sahidic), and Kimi (Bashmuric). This name signifies, alike in the an- cient language and in Coptic, "black," and may be supposed to have been given to the land on account of the blackness of its alluvial soil (comp. Plutarch, De Is. et Osir. c. 33). It would seem, however, to lie rather a representative of the original Heb. name Ham (i. e. Cham), which likewise in the Shemitic languages de- notes snn-hurnt, as a characteristic of African tribes. The other hieroglyphic names of Egypt appear to be of a poetical character.