AMAD
186
AMALEKITE
known. His day in the Greek calendar is Nov. 26.— ' Josephus 'Afia\rjKirr]c, Auth. Vers, often " Amalek-
Baillet Nov. 2G. ites"), the title of a powerful people who dwelt in
A'mad (Heb. Amad', V-V, people of duration; \ Arabia Petrrca, between the Dead Sea and the Bed
, ,;■ , '_.T: . -r. . I Sea, or between Havilah and Shur (1 Sam. xv. 7),
Sept. 'A,M«h- r. A^nX.J dig. Amaad), a town near ; >fa Idam Qf ^ *
the border of Asher mentioned between Alamme lech Amalekites are generally sup-
and Misheal as if in a southerly or westerly course , descendants of Amalek, the
(Josh, xix, 20) Schwarz (Palest p. 192 thinks it is V ^ >
the modern village AUMead a few mdes north of , P £ ^ ^^
Acco. meaning apparently the place called £m d- Ufore tins Amalek was born, i. e. in the
Awed, wnh extensive nuns near the sea-coast, the Uys of Abraham , wh,
identity of which with the ancient Amad is also sug-
rhen Chedorlaomer, king of Elam,
devastated their country (Gen. xiv, 7) ; from which gested by Thomson (Land and Loot, i 469); but we { ^^ .^^ thaUh^ wag gome ^ and more Should otherwise look for a more south-easterly posi- tion, and one on the boundary, applies to the location proposed
(Memoir, p. 284) at Urn el-' Amad, on the shore south . UJ .g fa a Batisfacto golution of
of Tyre, which, however, contains no rums (hobmson, , ^ » ^ ^ ^ ^.^ 3ii
ater fl,,Mrf A« ... 113). It may not i improbably be ^ historians represent them as original!
identified with S«r/« 'tW or Shefa Amar (perhaps | ^.^ on tfae sl]oreg of ^ pergian ^ ^^ hffip for nSaS), a large market-town on a ridge east they were prcBSed westward by the growth of the As-
rri .-. '. ancient Amalek from whom this people strung. The
The same objection . ... .. . ., . . * * ' p .. ,.
I i „ y , y .1 j supposition that this people are there prolephcally
• nnthi^Wp Bn,,th sP°ken of (Hengstenberg, Genuineness of the Penta-
of Haifa, with streets of shops and a large deserted castle (Robinson, later Peseairhes, iii, 103).
Amad atha CApaSaSa, Esth. xvi, 10, 17) or
syrian empire, and spread over a portion of Arabia at a period antecedent to its occupation by the descend- ants of Joktan. This account of their origin harmo-
Amad'athus ('A/<flc«3w, Esth. xii, G), the form of ! nizes with Gen. xiv, 7; it throws light on the traces the name Hammedatha (q. v.) as given in the apoc- | of a permanent occupation of central Palestine in their ryphal additions to the book of Esth (these portions i passage westward, as indicated by the names Amalek being found only in theVulg.in most editions, although and mount of the Amalekites (Judg. v, 14; xii, 15);
the name is given in the genitive, 'AfiacaSov, through- out the book).
Amadeists. See Amedians.
Amadeus. See Basle, Council of.
A'mal (Heb. Amal' , ioS, toil; Sept. AfidX), the
and it accounts for the silence of Scripture as to any relationship between the Amalekites and either the Edomites or the Israelites (Gen. xxxvi, 16, does not refer to the whole nation).
The physical character of the district which the Amalekites occupied [see Arabia] necessitated a no-
last named of the four sons of Helem, of the tribe of I madic life, which they adopted to its fullest extent, Asher (1 Chron. vii, 35). B.C. prob. post 1G58. taking their families with them even on their mili-
Amalarius, a priest of Metz in the 9th century. j tary expeditions (Judg. vi, 5). Their wealth con- He wrote a treatise, De Divinis Officiis libri quatuor, j sisted in flocks and herds. Mention is made of a giving an account of the church services, and a ratio- nameless "town" (1 Sam. xv. 5), and Josephus gives nalc of their meaning. Some passages in it favor the , an exaggerated account of the capture of several towns idea that he was free from the superstitions of his \ by Saul (Ant. vi, 7, 2) ; but the towns could have been times as to the Lord's Supper. He also wrote Be or- , little more than stations, or nomadic enclosures. The dine Antiphonarii. Both this and the former treatise ' kings or chieftains were perhaps distinguished by the are given in Bibl. Max. Pair. xiv. He wrote many , hereditary title Agag (Num. xxiv, 7 ; 1 Sam. xv, 8). Letters, to be found in D'Acherv, Spieiler/. iii, 330. i Two important routes led through the Amalekite dis- The sixth letter is occupied with a curious discussion, , trict, viz., from Palestine to Egypt by the Isthmus of arising from the notion of our Lord's body being actu- Suez, and to Southern Asia and Africa by the yElanitic ally present in the sacrament. Amalarius was con- | arm of the Eed Sea. It has been conjectured that suited about a person who had spit immediately after the expedition of the four kings (Gen. xiv) had for its receiving the sacrament, whether he had thus spit j object the opening of the latter route; and it is in away some of our Lord's body and blood, and whether connection with the former that the Amalekites first he could be saved after such an act; he does not de- j came in contact with the Israelites, whose progress cide whether the person had voided some particles of j they attempted to stop, adopting a guerrilla style of < Ihrist's body, but says that the health of the soul will | warfare (Dent, xxv, 18). The Amalekites, suspect- not be endangered by this act which was done for the [ ing that the Israelites were advancing to take posses- health of the body.— Clarke, Sac. Lit. ii. 471 ; Cave, sion of the land of Canaan, did not wait for their near His/. Lit. anno 812. , approach to that country, but came down from their