Difference between revisions of "Agag"

<p> <span> A'gag. </span> <span> (flame). </span> [[Possibly]] the title of the kings of Amalek, like <span> [[Pharaoh]] </span> of Egypt. [[One]] king of this name is mentioned in <span> [[Numbers]] 24:7 </span> , and another in <span> 1 [[Samuel]] 15:8-9 </span> ; <span> 1 Samuel 15:20 </span> ; <span> 1 Samuel 15:32 </span> . The latter was the king of the Amalekites, whom [[Saul]] spared contrary to <span> Jehovah's </span> well-known will. <span> [[Exodus]] 17:14 </span> ; <span> Exodus 25:17 </span> . </p> <p> [[For]] this act of disobedience, Samuel was commissioned to declare to Saul, his rejection, and he himself sent for [[Agag]] and cut him in pieces. (B.C. about 1070). <span> [[See]] </span> <a> Samuel </a> <span> . </span> [[Haman]] is called the <span> [[Agagite]] </span> in <span> [[Esther]] 3:1 </span> ; <span> Esther 3:10 </span> ; <span> Esther 8:3 </span> ; <span> Esther 8:5 </span> . The [[Jews]] consider him a descendant of Agag, the Amalekite. </p>

<p> <translit> ā´gag </translit> ( <span> אגג </span> , <i> <translit> 'ăghāgh </translit> </i> , or <span> אגג </span> , <i> <translit> 'ăghagh </translit> </i> , meaning unknown, possibly "violent," <i> BDB </i> ): A name, or title, applied to the king of the Amalekites, like [[Abimelech]] in [[Philistia]] and [[Pharaoh]] in Egypt. It is used of two of these kings: (1) A king of Amalek, mentioned by [[Balaam]] ( <span> [[Numbers]] 24:7 </span> ) in his blessing of Israel; (2) A later king, in the days of [[King]] [[Saul]] (1 [[Sam]] 15). Saul was sent with his army to destroy the Amalekites, who had so violently opposed [[Israel]] in the Wilderness. [[He]] disregarded the [[Divine]] command, sparing the best of the spoil, and saving [[Agag]] the king alive ( <span> 1 [[Samuel]] 15:8 </span> , <span> 1 Samuel 15:9 </span> ). After rebuking Saul, Samuel had Agag put to death for all the atrocities committed by himself and his nation ( <span> 1 Samuel 15:32 </span> , <span> 1 Samuel 15:33 </span> ). </p>

<p> (Heb. [[Agag]] <span> ’ </span> , <span> אֲגִג </span> <span> , </span> perh. <span> flame, </span> from an Arab. root, in 1 [[Samuel]] always written <span> אֲגָג </span> ; Sept. <span> Ἀγάγ </span> , but <span> Γώγ </span> in Numbers.), the name of two kings of the Amalekites, and probably a common name of all their kings (Hengstenberg, <span> Pentat. </span> 2, 307), like [[Pharaoh]] in Egypt, and [[Achish]] or [[Abimelech]] among the Philistines. (See <a> AGAGITE </a> ). </p> <p> <span> 1. </span> The king apparently of one of the hostile neighboring nations, at the time of the [[Exode]] (B.C. 1618), referred to by [[Balaam]] ( <span> [[Numbers]] 24:7 </span> ) in a manner implying that the king of the [[Amalekites]] was, then at least, a greater monarch, and his people a greater people, than is commonly imagined. (See <a> AMALEKITE </a> ). </p> <p> <span> 2. </span> A king of the Amalekites, who was spared by Saul, contrary to the solemn vow of devotement to destruction, (See <a> ANATHEMA </a> ), whereby the nation, as such, had of old precluded itself from giving any quarter to that people ( <span> [[Exodus]] 17:14 </span> ; <span> Numbers 14:45 </span> ). [[Hence]] when Samuel arrived in the camp of [[Saul]] he ordered Agag to be brought forth. [[He]] came "pleasantly," deeming secure the life which the king had spared. But the prophet ordered him to be cut in pieces; and the expression which he employed <span> — </span> "As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women" <span> — </span> indicates that apart from the obligations of the vow, some such example of retributive justice was intended as had been exercised in the case of Adonibezek; or, in other words, that Agag had made himself infamous by the same treatment of some prisoners of distinction (probably Israelites) as he now received from Samuel (see Diedrichs, Hinrichtung Agag <span> ’ </span> s, Gott. 1776). The unusual mode in which his death was inflicted strongly supports this conclusion ( <span> 1 Samuel 15:8-33 </span> ). B.C. cir. 1070. (See <a> SAMUEL </a> ). </p>