the son of Eliphaz, by Timna his concubine, and the grandson of Esau, Gen. xxxvi. 12, and 1 Chr. i. 36. Amalek succeeded Gatam in the government of Edom. He was the father of the Amalekites, a powerful people who dwelt in Arabia Petraea, between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, or between Hava and Shur (1 Sam. xv. 7); sometimes in one canton and sometimes in another. It does not appear that they they had cities; for there is no mention of any but one in the Scriptures (id. ib. 5.) ; they living generally in hamlets, caves, or tents.

The Israelites had scarcely passed the Red sea on their way to the wilderness before the Amalekites came to attack them in the defects of Rephidim (Ex. xvii. 8 &c.) ; and put those cruelly to the sword who were obliged, either through fatigue or weakness, to remain behind. Moses, by divine command, directed Joshua to fall upon this people; to record the act of inhumanity which they had committed in a book, in order to have it always before his eyes; and to revenge it in the most remarkable manner. Joshua therefore fell upon the Amalekites and defeated them, while Moses was upon the mountain, with Aaron and Hur in company. Moses, during the time of the engagement, held up his hands, to which the success of the battle was owing; for as often as he let them down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses's hands being tired, Aaron and Hur supported his arms, and held them extended, while the battle lasted, which was from morning till the approach of night, when the Amalekites were cut in pieces. This happened in the year of the world 2513, before Christ 1491.

The ground of the enmity of the Amalekites against the Israelites is generally supposed to have been an innate hatred, from the remembrance of Jacob's depriving their progenitor both of his birthright and blessing. Their falling upon them, however, and that without any provocation, when they saw them reduced to so low a condition by the fatigue of their march, and the excessive drought they laboured under, was an inhuman action, and justly deserved the defeat which Joshua gave them. Under the Judges (v. 3.), we see the Amalekites united with the Midianites and Moabites, in a design to oppress Israel; but Ehud delivered the Israelites from Eglon king of the Moabites (Judges iii.), and Gideon (chap. viii.) delivered them from the Midianites and Amalekites. About the year of the world 2930, Saul marched against the Amalekites, advanced as far as their capital, and put all the people of the country to the sword; but spared the best of the cattle and moveables, contrary to a divine command; which act of disobedience was the cause of Saul's future misfortunes.

After this war, the Amalekites scarcely appear any more in history. However, about the year of the world 2949, a troop of Amalekites came and pillaged Ziklag, which belonged to David (1 Sam. xxxi.), where he had left his two wives Ahinoam and Abigail; but he returning from an expedition which he had made in the company of Achish into the valley of Jezreel, pursued them, overtook and dispersed them, and recovered all the booty which they had carried off from Ziklag.

The Arabians maintain Amalek to have been the son of Ham, and grandson of Noah; that he was the father of Ad, and grandfather of Schedad. Calmet thinks that this opinion is by no means to be rejected, as it is not very probable that Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau, should be the father of a people so powerful and numerous as the Amalekites were when the Israelites departed out of Egypt. Moses in the book of Genesis (xiv. 7.) relates, that in Abraham's time, long before the birth of Amalek the son of Eliphaz, the five confederate kings carried the war into Amalek's country, about Kedesh; and into that of the Amorites, about Hazazon-tamar. The same Moses (Num. xxiv. 20.) relates, that the diviner Balaam, observing at a distance the land of Amalek, said, in his prophetic style, "Amalek is the first, the head, the original of the nations; but his latter end shall be, that he perish for ever." Our commentator observes, that this epithet of the first of nations cannot certainly agree with the Amalekites descended from the son of Eliphaz, because the generation then living was but the third from Amalek. Besides, Moses never reproaches the Amalekites with attacking their brethren the Israelites; an aggravating circumstance, which he would not have omitted were the Amalekites descended from Esau; in which case they had been the brethren of the Israelites. Lastly, we see the Amalekites almost always joined in the Scripture with the Canaanites and Philistines, and never with the Edomites; and when Saul made war upon the Amalekites, and almost utterly destroyed them, we do not find that the Edomites made the least motion towards their affluence, nor to revenge them afterwards. Thence it is thought probable, that the Amalekites, who are so often mentioned in Scripture, were a free people descended from Canaan, and devoted to the curse as well as the other Amorites, and very different from the descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau.

The accounts which the Arabians give us of the Amalekites destroyed by Saul are as follow: Amalek was the father of an ancient tribe in Arabia, exterminated in the reign of Saul. This tribe contained only the Arabians who are called Pure; the remains whereof were mingled with the posterity of Joktan and Adnan, and so became Mofarabes or Moslaarabes; that is to say, Arabians blended with foreign nations. They further believe, that Goliath, who was overcome by David, was king of the Amalekites; and that the giants who inhabited Palestine in Joshua's time were of the same race. That at last part of the Amalekites retired into Africa while Joshua was yet living, and settled upon the coasts of Barbary, along the Mediterranean sea. The son of Amalek was Ad, a celebrated prince among the Arabians. Some make him the son of Uz, and grandson of Aram the son of Shem. Let this be as it will, the Mahometans say that Ad was the father of an Arabian tribe called Adites; who were exterminated, as they tell us, for not hearkening to the patriarch Eber, who preached the unity of God to them. Ad had two sons, Schedad and Schedid.