Amalekites

“ The Amalekites had not as yet intermingled with the Ishmaelites, and their Beduin blood was still pure. They were the Shasu or "Plunderers" of the Egyptian inscriptions, sometimes also termed the Sitti, the Sute of the cuneiform texts. Like their modern descendants, they lived by the plunder of their more peaceful neighbours. As was prophesied of Ishmael, so could it have been prophesied of the Amalekites, that their "hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against" them. They were the wild offspring of the wilderness, and accounted the first-born of mankind (Numb. xxiv. 20) . ”

“ Why should a man believe that in relation to Moses to which he would refuse credence in the present day? and if God was really on the side of the Israelites, why did he allow his aid to depend upon whether Moses could hold up his hand?
Verses 14 and 16. Why was Amalek to be so punished? God the Creator must have created both Amalekites and Israelites, yet he favours the latter and declares war against the former from generation to generation. What a strange idea to convey in relation to an Omnipotent Deity—strife between the Infinite God and his weak and puny creature. ”

“ I. Amalek's attempt: They came out, and fought with Israel, v. 8. The Amalekites were the posterity of Esau, who hated Jacob because of the birthright and blessing, and this was an effort of the hereditary enmity, a malice that ran in the blood, and perhaps was now exasperated by the working of the promise towards an accomplishment. Consider this, 1. As Israel's affliction. They had been quarrelling with Moses (v. 2) , and now God sends Amalekites to quarrel with them; wars abroad are the just punishment of strifes and discontents at home. 2. As Amalek's sin; so it is reckoned, Deut. ”

“ Numbers, 13: 29, mentions that the Amalekites dwelt in the southern part of Palestine in the time of Moses, also, and were a source of much trouble to the Israelites as long as they were encamped in the environs of Ḳadeš (Num., 14:43) . According to Deuteronomy, 25: 17 ff., the Amalekites attacked the weakened Israelites on their march from Egypt and captured all their stragglers. Exodus, 17: 8, relates that the Amalekites marched against the Israelites at Refîdîm, where, according to Exodus, 17: 6 f., Moses obtained water from the rock by smiting it with his rod. ”

“ Even a devout believer might be sadly puzzled by these verses. Was God afraid lest the people should repent? and did he express that fear to his confidant, Moses, or in what manner, and to whom did God speak? Did God lead his chosen people into Egypt to avoid all wars? if so, how comes it that we almost immediately hear of the battle with the Amalekites? (vide chap. 17) . God's fears seem ill-founded, for the Jews although they had a very hard fight with the Amalekites, even with God's aid, never talked of returning to Egypt, in consequence of that fight. ”

“ Nor can it in any way surprise us that the Amalekites, as the Ephraimitic text states, opposed the Hebrews, i. e. contested the possession of the pasture-lands and oases of the wildernesses of Shur and Paran, with the new-comers. The Israelites obtained the victory. ”

“ And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people. Now the greatest number of those of the Lamanites which slew so many of their brethren, were Amalekites and Amulonites, the greatest number of whom were after the order of the Nehors. Now among those which joined the people of the Lord, there were none which were Amalekites or Amulonites, or which were of the order of Nehor, but they were actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel ”

“ The Amalekites were now the chief of the nations (v. 20) , therefore Agag was spoken of (v. 7) as an eminent prince, and they were the first that engaged Israel when they came out of Egypt; but the time will come when that nation, as great as it looks now, will be totally ruined and rooted out: His latter end shall be that he perish for ever. Here Balaam confirms that doom of Amalek which Moses had read (Exod. xv. 14, 16) , where God had sworn that he would have perpetual war with Amalek. Note, Those whom God is at war with will certainly perish for ever; for when God judges he will overcome. ”

“ If the genealogy of these families of Seir had not been described in full they would all have been killed, contrary to the plain words of the commandment. For this reason the Seirite families are fully described, as if to say, the people that live in Seir and in the kingdom of Amalek are not all Amalekites: they are the descendants of some other man, and are called Amalekites because the mother of Amalek was of their tribe. The justice of God thus prevented the destruction of an [innocent] people that lived in the midst of another people [doomed to extirpation] ”

“ Consequently it spread widely through the teachings of his followers. In later years the traitorous Amlicites, the apostate Amalekites, the blood-thirsty Amulonites and Ammonihahites, were all believers in his soul-destroying [Pg 120] doctrines. The bloodshed, the misery produced, the treasure expended through the wickedness and folly of these base creatures, cannot be computed.
The increase of these false teachers among the Nephites rapidly developed class distinctions and social divisions; their adherents being generally gathered from amongst those who loved the vain things of the world. ”

“ Pal. ii. 552) . - In the case of two of the wives of Esau, who bore only one son each, the tribes were founded not by the sons, but by the grandsons; but in that of Aholibamah the three sons were the founders. Among the sons of Eliphaz we find Amalek, whose mother was Timna, the concubine of Eliphaz. He was the ancestor of the Amalekites, who attacked the Israelites at Horeb as they came out of Egypt under Moses (Exo 17:8.) , and not merely of a mixed tribe of Amalekites and Edomites, belonging to the supposed aboriginal Amalekite nation. ”

“ This view of the word Ham we think elucidates the history of Esther and that of Haman הָמָ֥ןhāmān the son of Hamadatha—Agagite, ha Agagi. The word is a patronymic of אַגָגʾagāg Agag,—hence he was an Amalekite: “Agag, the king of Amalek”—“Agag, the king of the Amalekites.” 1 Sam. xv. 20, 32. “Now there was one Haman, the son of Amadatha, by birth an Amalekite.” Josephus, book ii. cap. vi. 5. This shows the cause of the extraordinary hatred that existed between her people and his. His very name shows that he was a descendant of Ham, and we think also proves that the Amalekites were black ”

“ The Philistines were formidable enemies, too fierce to be encountered by raw recruits; it was more suitable that they should begin with the Amalekites, and be prepared for the wars of Canaan by experiencing the difficulties of the wilderness. Note, God proportions his people's trials to their strength, and will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able, 1 Cor. ”

“ Out of every city in which there is a remnant of Edom, it shall be destroyed. שׁריד is equivalent to אדום שׁארית (Amo 9:12) . The explanation, “destroy the remnant out of the city, namely, out of the holy city of Jerusalem” (Ewald and Baur) , is forced, and cannot be sustained from the parallelism.
Verse 20Verse 20
The second saying in this prophecy relates to the Amalekites. Balaam sees them, not with the eyes of his body, but in a state of ecstasy, like the star out of Jacob. “Beginning of the heathen is Amalek, and its end is destruction.” ”

“ Commentators on the Koran (chaps. vii.) call the Pharaoh of Moses Al-Walid and derive him from the Amalekites: we have lately ascertained that this Mene-Ptah was of the Shepherd-Kings and thus, according to the older Moslems, the Hyksos were of the seed of Imlik. (Pilgrimage ii. 116, and iii. 190.) In Syria they fought with Joshua son of Nun. The tribe or rather nationality was famous and powerful: we know little about it and I may safely predict that when the Amalekite country shall have been well explored, it will produce monuments second in importance only to the Hittites. ”

“ In consequence of this the whole congregation meditate a return to Egypt: God is displeased, and pronounces that all of them, from twenty years old and upwards, shall die in the wilderness. They repent, attack the Amalekites contrary to the commandment of God, and are discomfited ”

“ Scripture tells us that Satan could spare seven devils to torment one poor sinner. What, then, must their number be? And as the Amalekites, they hate us with a perfect hatred. Having by their bad ambition and pride lost heaven and being hurled to the bottomless pit, they are now most bitterly and irreconcilably opposed to everything that stands in connection with the Redeemer and His redeemed. To think that we, who are equally fallen into sin, should be restored to grace, accepted to the very thrones they have lost, is more than their envy can [99] endure. ”

“ God deals with sinners as enemies do with a town, batter it not by planted guns, but secretly undermines and blows up the walls, whereby they involve the garrison in a sudden ruin, and carry the town. God spared the Amalekites a long time after the injury committed against the Israelites, in their passage out of Egypt to Canaan ”

“ For it follows from the very nature of the case that many escaped, and consequently there is nothing striking in the fact that Amalekites are mentioned again at a later period (1Sa 27:8; 1Sa 30:1; 2Sa 8:12) . The last remnant was destroyed by the Simeonites upon the mountains of Seir in the reign of Hezekiah (1Ch 4:43) . Only, king Agag did Saul and the people (of Israel) spare, also “the best of the sheep and oxen, and the animals of the second birth, and the lambs and everything good; these they would not ban.” משׁנים, according to D. Kimchi and R. Tanch. ”

“ Amalekites.
07:013:001 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the
LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the
Philistines forty years.
07:013:002 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the
Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and
bare not.
07:013:003 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said
unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but
thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. ”

“ Who fought against them. The power of the enemy must be taken notice of, that the victory may appear the more glorious. Jabin and Sisera had been mentioned in the history, but here it appears further, (1.) That Amalek was in league with Jabin, and sent him in assistance, or endeavoured to do it. Ephraim is here said to act against Amalek (v. 14) , probably intercepting and cutting off some forces of the Amalekites that were upon their march to join Sisera. Amalek had helped Moab to oppress Israel (ch. iii. 13) and now had helped Jabin ”

“ Others may have [Pg 157] even wished to find difficulties that would furnish an excuse for returning even to Egypt. Most were ready to be disenchanted at least and to find cause for alarm. In the south of Canaan a pastoral district, rocky and uninviting towards the shore of the Dead Sea, was found to be sparsely occupied by wandering companies of Amalekites, Bedawin of the time, probably with a look of poverty and hardship that gave little promise for any who should attempt to settle where they roamed. Towards Hebron the aspect of the country improved ”

“ The Amalekite of the Old Testament is the Bedâwi of to-day. Now, as ever, he is the scourge of his more settled neighbours, whose fields he harries and whose families he murders. He lives by robbery and theft; too idle to work himself, he plunders those who do. A strong government forces him to hide himself in the depth of the wilderness; when the countries that skirt the desert fall into decay he emerges from his retreat like a swarm of flies. The ancient Oriental world saw in Amalek "the firstborn of nations;" ”

“ Untamed and untamable, his hand was against every man, and every man's hand against him.
Before Babylonian culture had been brought to the West, Amalek already existed. He was older than the oldest of the civilised kingdoms of the earth. But civilisation had raised a barrier against him which he was ever on the watch to break through. He never lost the opportunity of raiding the inhabitants [pg 97] of the cultivated lands, and escaping again into the desert with his booty before he could be overtaken and punished. The desert between Palestine and Egypt was his chief camping-ground. ”

“ The main power needed to fight Amalek and to erase his name and memory from the world, is through Shabbat, which is the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He. For the main war of Amalek in every generation is against the name of Hashem, which is the name of the True Tzaddik, for the name of Hashem is joined with that of the True Tzaddik. This Tzaddik is the glory and beauty and splendor of the whole world. He is the true grace of the world. He is the aspect of the simple foundation, the river that flows out of Eden, from which are drawn all four elements which are the basis of all the worlds. ”

“ Too often, it is the more conspicuous part of the story of the relations of God and man.
AMALEK. xvii. 8–16.
Nothing can be more natural, to those who remember the value of a fountain in the East, than that Amalek should swoop down from his own territories upon [253] Israel, as soon as this abundant river tempted his cupidity. This unprovoked attack of a kindred nation leads to another advance in the education of the people.
They had hitherto been the sheep of God: now they must become His warriors. At the Red Sea it was said to them, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord ... ”