Eglon

Portrait of Eglon

Eglon was the king of Moab who, allied with the Ammonites and Amalekites, oppressed Israel for eighteen years after they did evil in God's sight. A very fat man, he was slain by the left-handed judge Ehud, who concealed a dagger and struck him during a private audience. His death broke Moab's grip on Israel and brought eighty years of peace.

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Biography

Occupation
King of Moab
Era
Judges
Nationality
Moabite
Old Testament Judges Villain King

Did You Know?

1

Eglon king of Moab was so overweight that when the judge Ehud drove in his dagger 'the fat closed upon the blade' (Judges 3:22) - one of the most graphic and darkly comic assassination scenes in the Bible.

2

Ehud exploited his own left-handedness to smuggle the weapon past the guards on the unexpected side, a detail the narrator highlights because the Benjaminites (Ehud's tribe) were famed for left-handed warriors.

3

Eglon's name is related to the Hebrew word for a young bull or calf ('egel'), a fitting irony for a fattened king led to slaughter.

Key Chapters

Judges 3 Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar 5 min read Ehud's daring assassination of the Moabite oppressor delivers Israel and begins ...

Key Passages

Ehud Kills Eglon

Judges 3:15-25

Ehud's daring assassination of the Moabite oppressor delivers Israel and begins a long period of rest.

B15ut when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. 17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. 19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. 20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. 21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: 22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. 23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. 24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. 25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

Read full chapter: Judges 3 โ†’

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