Reference: Amalekite
Easton
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 (Ge 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" (Nu 13:29; 1Sa 15:7). They were a pastoral, and hence a nomadic race. Their kings bore the hereditary name of Agag (Nu 24:7; 1Sa 15:8). They attempted to stop the Israelites when they marched through their territory (De 25:18), attacking them at Rephidim (Ex 17:8-13; comp. De 25:17; 1Sa 15:2). They afterwards attacked the Israelites at Hormah (Nu 14:45). We read of them subsequently as in league with the Moabites (Jg 3:13) and the Midianites (Jg 6:3). Saul finally desolated their territory and destroyed their power (1Sa 14:48; 15:3), and David recovered booty from them (1Sa 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."