Amalekites Amalek
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [1]
AMALEK, Amalekites . A tribe which roamed, from the days of the Exodus till the time of king Saul, over the region from the southern boundary of Judah to the Egyptian frontier and the peninsula of Sinai. They are not counted among the kindred of the Israelites, and probably were among the inhabitants of the region whom the Hebrew and Aramæan immigrants found already in the land. With this agrees the statement of a poem quoted in Numbers 24:20 ‘Amalek was the first of the nations.’
Israel first met with the Amalekites in the region near Sinai, when Amalek naturally tried to prevent the entrance of a new tribe into the region (cf. Exodus 17:8-16 ). The battle which ensued produced such a profound impression, that one of the few things which the Pentateuch claims that Moses wrote is the ban of Jahweh upon Amalek ( Exodus 17:14 ). It appears from Deuteronomy 25:17-19 that Amalek made other attacks upon Israel, harassing her rear. On the southern border of Palestine the Amalekites also helped at a later time to prevent Israel’s entrance from Kadesh ( Numbers 13:29; Numbers 14:25 ).
During the period of the Judges, Amalekites aided the Moabites in raiding Israel ( Judges 3:13 ), and at a later time they helped the Midianites to do the same thing ( Judges 6:3; Judges 6:33; Judges 7:12 ). This kept alive the old enmity. King Saul attempted to shatter their force, and captured their king, whom Samuel afterwards slew ( 1 Samuel 15:1-35 ). Although Saul is said to have taken much spoil, the Amalekites were still there for David to raid during that part of Saul’s reign when David was an outlaw ( 1 Samuel 27:8 ). The boundaries of the habitat of the Amalekites at this time are said to have been from Telem, one of the southern cities of Judah ( Joshua 15:24 ), to Shur on the way to Egypt ( 1 Samuel 15:4 ). Most modern critics also read Telem for Havilah in 1 Samuel 15:7 , and for ‘ of old ’ in 1 Samuel 27:8 .
It was formerly supposed, on the basis of Judges 5:14; Judges 12:15 , that there was at one time a settlement of Amalekites farther north, in the hill country of Ephraim. That is, however, improbable, for in both passages the text seems to be corrupt. In Judges 5:14 ‘Amalek’ is corrupted from the Hebrew for ‘valley,’ and in Judges 12:15 from the proper name ‘Shalim.’ Individual Amalekites, nevertheless, sojourned in Israel ( 2 Samuel 1:8; 2 Samuel 1:13 ).
In 1 Chronicles 4:42 ff. there is a remarkable statement that a remnant of the Amalekites had escaped and dwelt in Edom, and that 500 Simeonites attacked and smote them. Perhaps this accounts for the priestly genealogies which make Amalek a descendant of Esau and a subordinate Edomite. tribe (cf. Genesis 36:12; Genesis 36:16 and 1 Chronicles 1:36 ). Perhaps here we learn how the powerful Amalek of the earlier time faded away. Psalms 83:7 a late composition refers to the Amalekites as still aiding Israel’s enemies; but this is probably a poetical imitation of ancient conditions.
On their close kindred, the Kenites, see Kenites.
George A. Barton.
Morrish Bible Dictionary [2]
There is a difficulty connected with these names, seeing that we read of Amalekites in Genesis 14:7 , some hundred years before Amalek, the son of Eliphaz and grandson of Esau, was born, Genesis 36:12 . Whether all we read of the tribe after this refers to the descendants of Esau, or whether the more ancient people were amalgamated with them, is not known.
The tribe became numerous and warlike. The first we read of them is that they attacked Israel soon after they had passed the Red Sea. They were conquered, and God declared "I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven;" not that they were at once destroyed, but the Lord swore He would have "war with Amalek from generation to generation." Exodus 17:8-16 . They dwelt in the south of the land, Numbers 13 :29, and Balaam called them "the first of the nations," but predicted that they should perish for ever. Numbers 24:20 .
When the Israelites, who, alas, disbelievingly agreed with the spies who had brought up the evil report of the land, were told they should all fall in the wilderness, they then said they would go up and possess it; but they were smitten by the Amalekites and the Canaanites. Several times in the period of the Judges war was made against them. Saul, as anointed king over the Lord's people, was bidden to destroy them utterly, but failed to answer to the Lord's vindication of His people: it was Samuel who cut Agag their king to pieces. 1 Samuel 14:48; 1 Samuel 15:1-33 . In the early days of David he attacked the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 27:8; and again when they burned Ziklag and carried away the women and children, including David's two wives, he recovered all, and sent of the spoil to the elders of Israel. 1 Samuel 30:1-31 . David dedicated their silver and gold unto Jehovah, 2 Samuel 8:12 . In the days of Hezekiah the rest of the Amalekites were smitten by the sons of Simeon. 1 Chronicles 4:41-43 . Among the nations confederated for Israel's destruction in Psalm 83 : are the Amalekites.
We thus find that Amalek was the first to attack Israel, and continued an enemy ever ready to molest them when they were weak even until the days of Hezekiah, and they are found in the hostile confederacy at the close of their history: an apt type of Satan as the enemy of God's people.
