AMALEKITES, the name of a nation inhabit. ing the country to the south of Palestine between Idumma and Egypt, and to the east of the Dead Sea and Mount Seir. ' The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south' (man rtc, 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 in vaded the Geshurites, and Gezrites, and the Amale kites, 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 1 Chron. iv. 42, it is said that the sons of Simeon went to Mount Seir and smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped. According to Josephus (A/itig.
iii. 2, § I) the Amalekites inhabited Gobolitis 63,1, Ps. lxxxiii. 7; I`OaXa, PrigaAa, Stephanus Byz.; Pe(3aAriv6, PapaXnpfl, Euseb.) and Petra, and were the most warlike of the nations in those parts; of TO r OP OXIT IP Kai Tip 1117-pap Ot KaXoOvrat jobs' 'ApaAniaraz, fie 1 gOpan, 6711PXOP. In another passage he says, Aliphaz had five legitimate sons, Theman, Omer, Saphus, Gotham, and Kanaz ; for Amalek was not legitimate, but by a concubine, whose name was Thamna. These dwelt in that part of Idumaea called Gobolitis, and that called Amalekitis, from Amalek-' (Antiq. ii. s); and elsewhere he speaks of them as reaching from Pelusium of Egypt to the Red Sea' (Antiq. vi. 7). We find, also, that they had a settlement in that part of Palestine which was allotted to the tribe of Ephraim. Abdon, one of the judges of Israel, was buried in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites, In Deborah's triumphal ode it is said On= ncrie ' out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek' (Antis. Vers.), which Ewald (Die Poe tischen Bucher des Allen Bundes, etc., G5ttingen, t839, Band, i. 129) translates Von Efraim die, deren Wurzel ist in Avialeq," of Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek,' i. e., the Ephraimites who dwelt in the mount of the Amalekites. On comparing this text and Joshua xvi. so, they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer (1n3), but the Canaanites dwelt among the Ephraimites unto this day'—with I Sam. xxvii. 8, David in vaded the Geshurites, and Gezrites, and the Amale kites,' etc., —it seems probable that the Gezrites (117)) were the inhabitants of Gezer (in) (v. Gesenius) ; but in that case David must have marched northward instead of southward, and the southern position of the Amalekites is expressly stated. The first mention of the Amalelsites in the Bible is Gen. xiv. 7 ; Chedorlaomer and his confederates returned and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar.' From this passage it has been inferred that the Amalekites existed as an inde pendent nation at that time, and were, therefore, totally distinct from the descendants of the son of Eliphaz. On the other hand, it has been remarked that while several other nations are specified (` the Rephaims, the Zuzims, the Emims,' v. 5, the Horites,' v. 6, and the Amorites,' v. 7), the phrase all the country of the Amalekites' lrhnvn) may have been used by the sacred his torian to denote the locality not then, but long afterwards, occupied by the posterity of Amalek (Hengstenberg's Die Anthentie des Pentateuches, Band ii. 305). The LXX. appear to have read 't*i,n, all the princes, instead of all the country, icar6cotbav rdvras robs apxorraz ' An.a)vrjK ; a reading which, if correct, would be in favour of the former supposition. Origen says Ur .ATumer. /fond/. xix.), intelecenent omnes principes Amalek, Rufinus's Latin version. After starting the ques tion, whether this name belonged to two nations, without attempting to settle it, he turns off to its allegorical interpretation (Opera, x. 230, Berol. 1840). The Amalekites were the first assailants of the Israelites after their passage through the Red Sea (Exod. xvii.) In v. 13 it is said Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.' Amalek may here be employed as the name of the chief of the tribe, as Pharaoh was the name of the successive kings of Egypt, and in this case the words must mean the prince and his army. But if Amalek' stand for the nation, `his people' must mean their confederates. It has been thought improbable that in so short a period the descend ants of Esau's grandson could have been sufficiently numerous 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 com paratively small band of marauders would he a very formidable foe to an undisciplined multitude, circumstanced as the Israelites were, in a locality so adapted to irregular warfare. It appears, too, that the attack was made on the most defenceless por• tion 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 Sept. core
Cnn-es, Vulg. lassi), when thou wast faint and weary' (Deut. xxv. 17-18). In Balaam's prophecy (Num. xxiv.) Amalek is denominated the first of the nations' col ntitn. The Targumists and se veral expositors, both Jewish and Christian, have taken this to mean ' the first of the nations that warred against Israel' (Marg. reading, Auth. Vers.) But it appears more agreeable to the antithetical character of Oriental poetry to interpret it of the rank held by the Amalekites among the surround ing nations, their pre-eminence as a warlike tribe, here contrasted with their future downfall and ex tinction. Or, if we understand the term of priority in time, of the antiquity of the nation, this would become a striking contrast with his latter end' (MslriN). In the Pentateuch, the Amalekites are frequently mentioned in connection with the Canaanites (Nuns. xiv. 25, 43, 45), and, in the book of Judges, with the Moabites and Ammonites (Judg. iii. 13) ; with the Midianites, ( judg. vi. 3 ; vii. 12: The Midianites and the Amalekites, and all the children of the East lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude ; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea-side for multitude') ; with the Kenites, I Sam. xv. 6. By divine command, as a retribu tion for their hostility to the Israelites on leaving Egypt (s Sam. xv. 2), Saul invaded their country with an army of 21o,000 men, destroyed strangely taken for a proper name in the Sept. : wa:vra rby Xadv Kat 'Iepip. cireicreivev) all the people with the edge of the sword ;' but he pre served their king Agag alive, and the best of the cattle, and by this act of disobedience 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 machines, some by mines dug underground, and by building walls on the outside ; some by famine and thirst, and some by other methods' (Antiq. vi. 7, 2). About twenty years later they were attacked by David during his resi dence among the Philistines (I Sam. xxvii.) It is said that he smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive ;' this language must be taken with some limitation, for shortly after the Amale kites were sufficiently recovered from their defeat to make reprisals, and burnt Ziklag with fire (I Sam. xxx.) David, on his return from the camp of Achish, surprised them while celebrating their success, eating, and drinking, and dancing,' and smote them from twilight even unto the evening of the next day, and there escaped not a man of them save 40o young men which rode upon camels, and fled' (I Sam. xxx. 17). At a later period, we find that David dedicated to the Lord the silver and gold of Amalek and other conquered nations (2 Sam. viii. 12). The last notice of the Amalekites as a nation is in 1 Chron. iv. 43, from which we llarn that in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, 50o men of the sons of Simeon went to Mount Seir, and smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped.' In the book of Esther, Haman is called the Agagite, and was probably a descendant of the royal line (Num. xxiv. 7; I Sam. xv. 8). Josephus says that he was by birth an Amalekite (Antiq. xi. 3 5) The editor of Calmet supposes that there were no less than three distinct tribes of Arnalekites.— r. Amalek the ancient, referred to in Gen. xiv. 7 ; 2. A tribe in the region east of Egypt, between Egypt and Canaan (Exod. xvii. 8; I Sam. xv., etc.; 3. Amalek, the descendants of Eliphaz. No such distinction, however, appears to be made in the Biblical narrative ; the national character is every where the same, and the different localities in which we find the Amalekites may be easily explained by their habits, which evidently were such as belong to a warlike nomade people. Le Clerc was one of the first critics who advocated the existence of more than one Amalek. Hengstenberg infers from Chron. iv. 42, 43, that in a wider sense Amale kites might be considered as belonging to Idumica, and urges, in behalf of the descent of the Amale kites from the son of Eliphaz, the improbability that a people who acted so conspicuous a part in the Israelitish history should have their origin con cealed, and be, as he terms it, ` ayeveaX6-pros, contrary to the whole plan of the Pentateuch' (v. Die Authentic, etc., ii. 303). Arabian writers mention , Anzalika, Anzalik, Inzlik, as an aboriginal tribe of their country, descended from Ham (Abulfeda says from Shem), and more ancient than the Ishmaelites. They also give the same name to the Philistines and other Canaanites, and assert that the Amalekites who were conquered by Joshua passed over to North Africa. Philo (Vita i. 39) calls the Amale kites who fought with the Israelites on leaving Egypt, Phoenicians (boivoces). The same writer interprets the name Amalek as meaning a people that licks up or exhausts;' 'ApaX/pc, 8s. eppivai erat Gads (Legis Allegan iii. 66, Lib. de Mlgr Abr. 26, Cong. crud. Brat. 11).—J. E. R.
AMAM (DnN, ; Sept. MO, var. read. 'Ao-np., 'Ap.ap.), a city in the southern part of the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 26).