AMALEK (Heb. dweller in a valley, son of Eliphaz and Timna his concubine, and grandson of Esau. He succeeded Gatam in the government of Edom, south of Judah (Gen. xxxvi :12, 16; I Chron. :36).
He was the chieftain of an Idumzean tribe (B. C. about 1740). This tribe was probably not the same as the Amalekites so often mentioned in Scriptures, for Moses speaks of the Amalekites long before this Amalek was born (Gen. xiv :7). (See ASIALEKITES.) (Arn'a-lek-ites), (Heb. mostly jt:P„ am-aw-lake', Amilek; more am aw-lay-kee', the Amalekite), the name of a nation in habiting the country to the south of Palestine between Iduma and Egypt, and to the of the Dead Sea and Mount Seir. 'The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south' (Num. xiii :29). 'Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt' (I Sam. xv :7). 'David went up and invaded the Geshurites, and Gezrites, and the Amalekites, for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt' (I Sam. xxvii :8). In t Chron. iv :42, it is said that the sons of Simeon went to Mount Seir and smote the rest of the Amale kites that were escaped. According to Josephus the Amalekites inhabited Gobolitis and Petra, and were the most warlike of the nations in those parts, and elsewhere he speaks of them as 'reach ing from Pelusium of Egypt to the Red Sea.' We find, also, that they had a settlement in that part of Palestine which was allotted to the tribe of Ephraim. The first mention of the Amalekites in the Bible is Gen. xiv.7; 'Chedorlaomer and his confederates returned and came to En-Mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar'.
(1) First Assailants of the Israelites. The Amalekites were the first assailants of the Israel ites after their passage through the Red Sea (Exod. xvii :8-13). It has been thought improb able that in so short a period the descendants of Esau's grandson could have been sufficiently nu merous and powerful to attack the host of Israel, but within nearly the same period the tribe of Ephraim had increased so that it could muster 40,50o men able to bear arms, and Manasseh 32, 200 ; and admitting in the case of the Israelites an extraordinary rate of increase (Exod. i :12, 20),
still, if we consider the prostrating influence of slavery on the national character, and the absence of warlike habits, it is easy to conceive that a comparatively small band of marauders would be a very formidable foe to an undisciplined mul titude, circumstanced as the Israelites were, in a locality so adapted to irregular warfare. It ap pears, too, that the attack was made on the most defenseless portion of the host. 'Remember (said Moses) what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt ; how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary' (Dent. xxv :17, 18). In the Pentateuch the Amalekites are frequently mentioned in connection with the Canaanites (Num. xiv :25, 43, 45), and, in the book of Judges, with the Moabites and Ammonites (Judg. :13) ; with the Midianites (Judg. vi :3; vii :12: 'The Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the chil dren of the East lay along in the valley like grass hoppers for multitude, and their camels were with out number, as the sand by the seaside for multi tude') ; with the Kenites (I Sam. xv :6).
(2) Retribution. By divine command, as a retribution for their hostility to the Israelites on leaving Egypt (I Sam. xv :2), Saul invaded their country with an army of 210,00o men, and 'utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword ;' but he preserved their king Agag alive, and the best of the cattle, and by this act of dis obedience forfeited the regal authority over Israel. Josephus states the number of Saul's army to be 400,00o men of Israel and 30,000 of Judah. He also represents Saul as besieging and taking the cities of the Amalekites, 'some by warlike ma chines, some by mines dug underground. and by building walls on the outside ; some by famine and thirst, and sonic by other methods' (.-intig. vi :7, Sec. 2).