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AAIALEK, AMALEKITES
AMALEK, AMALEKITES
nsed, the names do not always belonp; to persons his- torically real. All that we need understand by this iniroduction of an Anialek, son of Eliphaz by a concubine, is that Tinina the Horite, the concubine referred to, represents the importation or incor- poration of a foreign and inferior, probably a servile, element into the pure Edoinite stock, the Horites being one of the tribes forming that federation, embracing the Amalekites, conquered by Chedor- laomer.
The region in which the Amalekites first appear in history, near Kadesh, lies just about a (fay's journey south of Hebron, on the undulating slopes and plain at the foot of the mountains held by the Amorites. It may be supposed that a branch of the tribe had settled there, or had begun to engage in agricultural pursuits. When driven forth from their possessions by the conqueror, they no doubt returned to their old wandering modes of life, and rejoined their brethren who moved about through the wide extent of the great desert.
The first meeting of the Israelites and the Amalekites took place in the southern part of the Sinaitic peninsula. At Rephidim, a broad plain to the nortn-west of Mount Sinai, the Amalekites came out against the Israelites, and a battle ensued which lasted tliroughout the whole day. Joshua commanded in the light, and Moses on the hill top held up his rod in the sight of the people as the si^n from God that they would conquer by His might (Ex 17f-"). The Amalekites had at this time acted in a peculiarly bitter and exasperating manner towards the Israelites, harassing them on their rear, and cutting off the weak and the weary (Dt 25"""). In consequence, the Amalekites, to a greater extent than any of the other Can. and neighbouring tribes, were placed under the ban, so chat J" Himself, as well as His people, is repre- sented as solemnly swearing eternal feud against them.
The defeat of the Amalekites evidently put the fear of the Israelites upon the robber nomad tribes of the desert for a time, so that they were un- molested during their advance to Sinai, and during their year's encampment there, as well as during their subsequent march northward to the southern borderof Palestine at Kadesh. It was the intention of the Israelites to enter Palestine from the south, and so from this point, just outside of the southern boundary of Palestine, spies were sent to examine the land, and to bring back a report as to whether an entrance from that point was possible, and if so, how best the invading forces might conduct the campaign. These spies on their return reported that the Amalekites dwelt in the land of the south in the valley, i.e. in the soutliem portions of the region afterwards occupied by Judah and Simeon (Nu 13^ 14^), in the neighbourhood of the lowland Canaanites and the higliland Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites. The Amalekites are represented as the leaders of the confederate Canaanites who resisted the entrance of the Israelites into the south of Palestine (Nu 14^-"). They were evidently at that time of considerable importance, and must have been for a long period in possession of those territories only a little way north of the district in which we find their ancestors, or, at least, a branch of the same great nation, settled in the days of Abraham.
The bitter opposition shown by the Amalekites to the Israelites at Sinai and in Southern Pales- tine was distinguished from that of the other tribes by this, that they were really at the head of the confederated clans already in possession of the land, and the struggle between them and the invaders was to determine the whole future of the rivals, the success of the one necessarily meaning the utter destmction of the other. ' It was the hatred.'
says Ewald (History of Israel, i. 2.50), ' of two rivals disputino; a splendid prize whicli the one had previously possessed and still partially possessed, and the other was trj-ing to get for himself by ousting him.' The Ijittemess must have been in- tensified by the secession to the ranks of Israel of such branclies or families of the Amalekite stem as the Kenites and Kenizzites. These two families, with Jethro and Caleb respectively at their head, were the ancient allies of^ Israel, and ultimately settlers in the land. The defeat of the Israelites may have secured for the Amalekites and their immediate neighbours peace and prosperity through- out a whole generation. When they were again attacked it was by a people already in possession of the northern regions, now pressing southward. How far they were interfered with by Judah and Simeon is not recorded, but it would appear that even after the Israelitisli occupation of the country the Amalekites in considerable numbers maintained possession of the plateau and hilly regions in the extreme south.
In the time of the Judges, however, we meet with the Amalekites in the company of the Midianites, as nomad tribes roaming about among their old desert haunts, and pursuing their old tactics of harassing peaceful agriculturists. When the crops sown by the Israelites were ripening, the Amalekite marauders descended and reaped the har^'est, so that the unfortunate inhabitants were impoverished and discouraged (J" 6'). They, alonf; with the Ammonites, were aJlies of the Moabites in their conflict with Israel, and no donbt suffered in the defeat of the Moabites at the hand of Ehud (Jg 3'^).