Eglon (biblical place)

Eglon (Hebrew: עֶגְלוֹן) was a Canaanite city-state mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. According to the Book of Joshua, Debir, king of Eglon, joined a confederation against Gibeon when that city made peace with Israel. The five kings involved were slain and Eglon was later conquered and its inhabitants condemned to destruction. It was thereafter included in the territory of the Tribe of Judah, although it is not mentioned outside of the Book of Joshua.^[1]

According to Avraham Faust, most scholars identify the location of Eglon with the site of Tel 'Eton.^[2]

Tel 'Eton

Tel 'Eton (Hebrew: תל עיטון) is an archaeological site excavated by the Bar Ilan University, managed by Avraham Faust.^[3] It is the probable site of ancient Eglon. The site of Tel Eton was transformed in the 10th century BCE, and some of the structures built in this site involved ashlar in construction. Prior to these findings, the lack of ashlar construction in this period in the region of Judah was an "oftquoted evidence against the historical plausibility of a kingdom centered in Judah".^[4]

References

1. van Bekkum, Koert (2011). From Conquest to Coexistence: Ideology and Antiquarian Intent in the Historiography of Israel's Settlement in Canaan. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 158. ISBN 978-90-04-19480-9..
2. Faust, Avraham (2017). "Tel 'Eton Excavations and the History of the Shephelah during the Iron Age". In Greenspahn, Frederick E.; Rendsburg, Gary A. (eds.). Le-maʿan Ziony: Essays in Honor of Ziony Zevit. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-4982-0691-4.
3. "Proof of King David? Not yet. But riveting site shores up roots of Israelite era". Times of Israel. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
4. Faust, Avraham, and Yair Sapir. "The “Governor’s Residency” at Tel ‘Eton, the united monarchy, and the impact of the old-house effect on large-scale archaeological reconstructions." Radiocarbon 60.3 (2018): 801-820.