Amalek was the son of Eliphaz and his Horite concubine Timna, and thus the grandson of Esau. He was counted as a tribal chief in Edom and is known as the ancestor of the Amalekites – a nomadic desert people who throughout biblical history represented a persistent and particularly serious hostile threat to Israel. When the Amalekites attacked the Israelites from behind at Rephidim, striking among the weakest, shortly after their deliverance from Egypt, it led to an extraordinary divine declaration of war against Amalek from generation to generation and that their memory should be blotted out. Through the period of the judges, Saul’s and David’s kingdoms, the Amalekites remained a recurring threat. Saul’s disobedience to the divine command to carry out judgment on them cost him his kingship, and David himself had to fight them at Ziklag. Theologically, the line from Amalek extends all the way to the book of Esther, where Haman the Agagite – with roots in the royal lineage of the Amalekites – sought to destroy the Jewish people, but ultimately perished himself. Thus, Amalek stands in the biblical narrative as a consistent warning against hostility toward God’s people and about God’s final judgment on such resistance.
The Attack of the Amalekites on Israel at Rephidim
The Amalekites, descendants of Amalek, attacked the Israelites shortly after leaving Egypt at Rephidim. Moses held up his hands while Joshua fought and defeated them.
9Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us and go out to fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."
12When Moses' hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until sunset.
After the victory at Rephidim, the Lord declared that He would wage war against Amalek from generation to generation, and that the memory of Amalek should be blotted out under heaven.
14Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this down in a book as a reminder, and make sure Joshua hears it: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
Moses reminded the people how the Amalekites cowardly attacked the weakest and most exhausted at the rear of the caravan, and commanded Israel to blot out the memory of Amalek when they found rest in the land.
19Therefore, when the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
God commanded King Saul through the prophet Samuel to completely destroy the Amalekites as punishment for what they had done to Israel. Saul won, but spared King Agag and the best of the livestock, which led God to reject him as king.
2This is what the LORD of hosts says: 'I have taken account of what Amalek did to Israel, how they waylaid them on the road when they came up from Egypt.
3Now go and strike Amalek. Devote to destruction everything they have. Do not spare them; put to death man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"
9Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fattened animals and the lambs—everything of value. These they were unwilling to destroy; but everything despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
11"I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not carried out my commands." Samuel was angered, and he cried out to the LORD all night.
The Amalekites plundered and burned Ziklag and took David's family and the families of his men captive. David pursued them, defeated them, and rescued everyone.
1When David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day, they found that the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had struck Ziklag and burned it down.
17David struck them down from dusk until the evening of the next day, and not one of them escaped except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled.