Amalekite - a tribe that dwelt in
Arabia Petraea, between the
Dead Sea and
the Red Sea. They were not the descendants of Amalek, the son of
Eliphaz, for they existed in the days of
Abraham (Gen. 14:7).
They were probably a tribe that migrated from the shores of the
Persian Gulf and settled in
Arabia. "They dwelt in the land of
the south...from
Havilah[?] until thou comest to Shur" (Num. 13:29;
1 Sam. 15:7). They were a pastoral, and hence a nomadic race.
Their kings bore the hereditary name of
Agag (Num. 24:7; 1 Sam.
15:8). They attempted to stop the Israelites when they marched
through their territory (Deut. 25:18), attacking them at
Rephidim (Ex. 17:8-13; comp. Deut. 25:17; 1 Sam. 15:2). They
afterwards attacked the Israelites at
Hormah[?] (Num. 14:45). We
read of them subsequently as in league with the Moabites (Judg.
3:13) and the Midianites (Judg. 6:3).
Saul finally desolated
their territory and destroyed their power (1 Sam. 14:48; 15:3),
and
David recovered booty from them (1 Sam. 30:18-20). In the
Babylonian inscriptions they are called Sute, in those of
Egypt
Sittiu, and the Amarna tablets include them under the general
name of Khabbati, or "plunderers."
From Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
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