Difference between revisions of "Amalekites"

<p> [[Philo]] interprets "a people that licks up." A nomadic tribe, occupying the peninsula of [[Sinai]] and the wilderness between [[Palestine]] and [[Egypt]] (&nbsp;Numbers 13:29; &nbsp;1 Samuel 15:7; &nbsp;1 Samuel 27:8). [[Arab]] writers represent them as sprung from Ham, and originally at the [[Persian]] gulf, and then pressed westward by Assyria, and spreading over [[Arabia]] before its occupation by Joktan's descendants. This would accord with the mention of them (&nbsp;Genesis 14:7) long before Esau's grandson, the [[Edomite]] Amalek; also with &nbsp;Judges 3:13; &nbsp;Judges 5:14; &nbsp;Judges 12:15, where "Amalek" and "the mount of the Amalekites" appear in central Palestine, whither they would come in their passage westward. [[Scripture]] nowhere else mentions any relationship of them with the [[Edomites]] and Israelites. </p> <p> The [[Amalek]] of [[Edom]] (&nbsp;Genesis 36:16) in this view afterward became blended with the older Amalekites. But &nbsp;Genesis 14:7 mentions merely "the country of the Amalekites," i.e. which afterward belonged to them; whereas in the case of the other peoples themselves are named, the Rephaims, Zuzims, Emims, Horites, [[Amorites]] (Septuagint, however, and [[Origen]] read for "the country" "the princes".) The descent of the [[Amalekites]] from Amalek, Esau's grandson, is favored also by the consideration that otherwise a people so conspicuous in Israel's history would be without specification of genealogy, contrary to the analogy of the other nations connected with [[Israel]] in the Pentateuch. Their life was nomadic (&nbsp;Judges 6:5); a city is mentioned in &nbsp;1 Samuel 15:5. </p> <p> [[Agag]] was the hereditary title of the king. On Israel's route from Egypt to Palestine, Amalek in guerrilla warfare tried to stop their progress, and was defeated by Joshua, under Moses, whose hands were stayed up by [[Aaron]] and Hur, at [[Rephidim]] (&nbsp;Exodus 17:8-16). (See &nbsp;AGAG.) It was a deliberate effort to defeat God's purpose at the very outset, while Israel was as yet feeble, having just come out of Egypt. The motive is stated expressly, "Amalek feared not God" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 25:17-19; and &nbsp;Exodus 17:16 margin). "Because the hand of Amalek is against the throne of Jehovah, therefore [[Jehovah]] will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." Saul's failure to carry out God's purpose of their utter destruction (1 Samuel 15) brought destruction on [[Saul]] himself (&nbsp;1 Samuel 28:18), and, by a striking retribution in kind, by an Amalekites (&nbsp;2 Samuel 1:2-10). </p> <p> David, the instrument of destroying them, was raised to the vacated throne (&nbsp;1 Samuel 27:8; &nbsp;1 Samuel 30:1-2; &nbsp;1 Samuel 30:17-26; &nbsp;2 Samuel 8:12). The Amalekites are mentioned with the [[Canaanites]] as having discomfited Israel at Hormah, on the borders of Canaan, permitted by God because of Israel's unbelief as to the spies' report, and then presumption in going up to possess the land in spite of Moses' warning and the non-accompaniment of the ark (&nbsp;Numbers 14:43-45). Subsequently the [[Moabite]] Eglon, in league with Amalek, smote Israel and took Jericho; but [[Ehud]] defeated them (&nbsp;Judges 3:13-30). </p> <p> Next we find them leagued with [[Midian]] (&nbsp;Judges 6:3; &nbsp;Judges 6:7), and defeated by Gideon: Balaam's prophecy (&nbsp;Numbers 24:20 Heb.), "Beginning of the pagan (was) Amalek, and its end (shall be) destruction" (even to the perishing, under Saul, David, and finally Hezekiah, &nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:42-43). In age, power, and celebrity this Bedouin tribe was certainly not "the first of the nations," but (as margin) "the first pagan nation which opened the conflict of pagandom against the people of God." Thus its "latter end" stands in antithesis to its "beginning." The occasion of Amalek's attack was significant: at Rephidim, when there was no water for the people to drink, and God by miracle made it gush from the rock </p> <p> Contentions for possession of a well were of common occurrence (&nbsp;Genesis 21:25; &nbsp;Genesis 26:22; &nbsp;Exodus 2:17); in Moses' message asking Edom and [[Sihon]] the [[Amorite]] for leave of passage, water is a prominent topic (&nbsp;Numbers 20:17; &nbsp;Numbers 21:22; compare &nbsp;Judges 5:11). This constitutes the special heinousness of Amalek's sin in God's eyes. They tried to deprive God's people of a necessary of life which God had just supplied by miracle, thus fighting not so much with them as with God. This accounts for the special severity of their doom. The execution was delayed; but the original sentence at Rephidim was repeated by Balaam, and 400 years subsequently its execution was enjoined at the very beginning of the regal government as a test of obedience; compare &nbsp;1 Samuel 12:12-15. </p> <p> They then still retained their spite against Israel, for we read (&nbsp;1 Samuel 14:48), "Saul smote the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them." That the [[Israelites]] might perceive they were but the executioners of God's sentence, they were forbidden to take the spoil Saul's taking of it to gratify the people and himself, under the pretext of "sacrifice," was the very thing which betrayed the spirit of disobedience, to his ruin. </p>

<p> a people whose country adjoined the southern border of the land of Canaan, in the north-western part of Arabia Petraea. They are generally supposed to have been the descendants of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau. But [[Moses]] speaks of the Amalekites long before this Amalek was born; namely, in the days of Abraham, when Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, devastated their country, &nbsp;Genesis 14:7; from which it may be inferred that there was some other and more ancient Amalek, from whom this people sprang. The [[Arabians]] have a tradition that this Amalek was a son of Ham; and when we consider that so early as the march from Egypt the Amalekites were a people powerful enough to attack the Israelites, it is far more probable that they should derive their ancestry from Ham, than from the then recent stock of the grandson of Esau. It may also be said, that the character and fate of this people were more consonant with the dealings of [[Providence]] toward the families of the former. This more early origin of the Amalekites will likewise explain why [[Balaam]] called them the "first of the nations." </p> <p> They are supposed by some to have been a party or tribe of the shepherds who invaded Egypt, and kept it in subjection for two hundred years. This will agree with the [[Arabian]] tradition as to their descent. It also agrees with their pastoral and martial habits, as well as with their geographical position; which was perhaps made choice of on their retiring from Egypt, adjoining that of their countrymen the Philistines, whose history is very similar. It also furnishes a motive for their hostility to the Jews, and their treacherous attempt to destroy them in the desert. The ground of this hostility has been very generally supposed to have been founded in the remembrance of Jacob's depriving their progenitor of his birthright. But we do not find that the Edomites, who had this ground for a hatred to the Jews, made any attempt to molest them, nor that Moses ever reproaches the Amalekites for attacking the Israelites as their brethren; nor do we ever find in Scripture that the Amalekites joined with the Edomites, but always with the Canaanites and the Philistines. These considerations would be sufficient, had we no other reasons for believing them not to be of the stock of Esau. They may, however, be deduced from a higher origin; and viewing them as Cuthite shepherds and warriors, we have an adequate explanation both of their imperious and warlike character, and of the motive of their hostility to the [[Jews]] in particular. If expelled with the rest of their race from Egypt, they could not but recollect the fatal overthrow at the Red Sea; and if not participators in that catastrophe, still, as members of the same family, they must bear this event in remembrance with bitter feelings of revenge. But an additional motive is not wanting for this hostility, especially for its first act. The Amalekites probably knew that the Israelites were advancing to take possession of the land of Canaan, and resolved to frustrate the purposes of God in this respect. Hence they did not wait for their near approach to that country, but came down from their settlements, on its southern borders, to attack them unawares at Rephidim. Be this as it may, the Amalekites came on the Israelites, when encamped at that place, little expecting such an assault. Moses commanded Joshua, with a chosen band, to attack the Amalekites; while he, with Aaron and Hur, went up the mountain Horeb. During the engagement, Moses held up his hands to heaven; and so long as they were maintained in this attitude, the Israelites prevailed, but when through weariness they fell, the Amalekites prevailed. Aaron and Hur, seeing this, held up his hands till the latter were entirely defeated with great slaughter, Exodus 17. </p> <p> The Amalekites were indeed the earliest and the most bitter enemies the Jews had to encounter. They attacked them in the desert; and sought every opportunity afterward of molesting them. Under the judges, the Amalekites, in conjunction with the Midianites, invaded the land of Israel; when they were defeated by Gideon, &nbsp;Judges 6:7 . But God, for their first act of treachery, had declared that he would "utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven;" a denunciation which was not long after accomplished. Saul destroyed their entire army with the exception of Agag their king; for sparing whom, and permitting the Israelites to take the spoil of their foes, he incurred the displeasure of the Lord, who took the sceptre from him. Agag was immediately afterward hewn in pieces by Samuel, 1 Samuel 15. It is remarkable, that most authors make Saul's pursuit of the Amalekites to commence from the lower Euphrates, instead of from the southern border of the land of Canaan. ( See &nbsp;HAVILAH. ) David a few years after, defeated another of their armies; of whom only four hundred men escaped on camels, 1 Samuel 30; after which event, the Amalekites appear to have been obliterated as a nation. </p>