What Does the Bible Tell Us about the Amalekites?

Moses, King Saul, and King David all encountered the Amalekites and fought several battles against them to clear them from the land, as God commanded each to do. But who were these people, and why did God have it out for them especially?

The Amalekites were a tribe of descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau, the grandson of the patriarch Abraham. Esau formed the nation of the Edomites, and Amalek formed the Amalekites. Unfortunately, the Amalekites came against the God of the universe at a pivotal time in Israel’s story.

Where Do We Find the Israelites’ First Encounter with the Amalekites?

To understand the Israelites’ first encounter with the Amalekites and why the Amalekites incurred God’s wrath, we need to go back to the Jews living in captivity in Egypt, slave labor for the pharaohs who ruled sometime between 1876 BC and 1446 BC.

God sent his servant Moses to demand their freedom, but Pharaoh continually rejected him. Even though God did miraculous signs and wonders, Pharaoh wouldn’t be swayed. That is until the night God struck down the firstborn of all of the families of Egypt. Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go but had a change of mind when the Israelites were gone. God opened the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass through on dry ground. But as the Egyptians charged after them in their chariots, God released the waves, and the Egyptians were drowned.

Moses then led the Israelites into the wilderness, where God provided them with food and water and made a covenant to protect them. Then, out of nowhere, the Amalekites attacked the Israelites unprovoked. Moses told Joshua, one from the tribe of Ephraim, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow, I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands” (Exodus 17:9).

What was the Most Famous Battle Between the Amalekites and the Israelites?

The Israelite army fought the Amalekites, and as long as Moses held up his staff, they were winning, but when lowered in fatigue, the Amalekites were winning. His brother Aaron and a man named Hur held up Moses’ arms so that he would keep the staff aloft.

Finally, they overcame the Amalekite army. God then tells Moses, “Write on this scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (Exodus 17:14). But in verse 16, Moses says, “The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.” God planned that Amalek would be forgotten (his people would pass away), but it wouldn’t be that simple. He knew that the Israelites would be tested by them again, and God would again have the opportunity to show His power and majesty.

We see the Amalekites again in Numbers 13. God tells Moses to send out men to explore Canaan, the promised land He would give the Israelites. Moses chose 12 men to go check out the large area of land, and when they came back, they said it was indeed a land “flowing with milk and honey,” as God had promised. But then, all but two spies (Joshua and Caleb) said that the people who lived in the cities were too powerful for them. Joshua and Caleb knew that with God’s help, they could take over the land. But the Israelites were scared and rebelled and grumbled against Moses and Aaron. As a result, God said that none of those who rebelled would ever live to see the promised land and die in the wilderness. The people repented and said they would see what the Lord promised, but Moses warned them to stay back because God was not with them. They tried to invade the land forcefully, and the Amalekites and other Canaanites beat them back.

What Happened When Saul Didn’t Kill the Amalekites?

The Lord doesn’t forget when evil appears to win over His beloved children. He certainly didn’t forget how the Amalekites ambushed the Israelites when they were traveling in the wilderness. So hundreds of years later, when Saul was anointed as the first king over Israel, he was ordered to attack the Amalekites and “destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death the men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys” (1 Samuel 15:3).

Hope Bolinger writes that the tribe of Amalek was incredibly corrupt: “Like Nineveh, it had fallen into every depravity known to man… We get a sense of how brutal the Amalekites were from the fact they attacked the Israelites en route to Canaan: if they were willing to attack a vulnerable nation unprovoked, who knew what happened within its territory?”

King Saul went to battle but didn’t do all God had ordered. He took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, as a prisoner and spared the best of the livestock. The prophet Samuel told King Saul that he would take the kingdom from him because he didn’t do what God had asked. God told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:13 to anoint David as the next king. David was still young, and God had exploits for him that earned him favor with the Israelites (e.g., killing Goliath.)

David was promised the crown, but Saul tried repeatedly to kill him, to no avail. David thought, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 27:1). Saul wouldn’t think of looking for him there. (David would have his encounter with the Amalekites later.)

David and his 600 men sought refuge where they would be safe from Saul. They went to Achish, king of Gath, a city in the kingdom of the Philistines, asking for a town where David could live and set up a home base against his enemies. Achish gave him the town south of Gath called Ziklag.

When Achish joined other Philistines for battle, he sent David home to Ziklag (so he wouldn’t be caught in battle against the Israelites). When he got to Ziklag, David found out the Amalekites had burned the city and taken all of the women as hostages. Two of them were wives of David. David and his army feverishly sought out and destroyed the Amalekites and recovered everything taken.

Sometime after David won against the Amalekites, King Saul and the Israelites were battling the Philistines. Saul’s three sons were assassinated, and after being wounded, Saul committed suicide to avoid being tortured by the Philistines. The man who brought David news of these deaths was an Amalekite, so David had him killed as well.

When Did the Amalekites Almost Destroy Israel?

The Israelites had another encounter with the Amalekites hundreds of years later, which we read about in the Book of Esther. At that time, many Hebrews were living in Persia, having been relocated there first by the Babylonians, now living under Persia’s King Xerxes. At the time of this story, King Xerxes was ruler and sent his men out to look for a replacement queen since his wife displeased him. He chose Esther, who, unbeknownst to him, was a Jewess living with her older cousin Mordecai, who held a high position within the realm.

Mordecai learned of a plot to kill the king and told Esther, who reported it to King Xerxes. Sometime later, for a reason the Bible does not give, the King honored a man named Haman, who was an Agagite (an Amalekite). “All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down and pay him honor” (Esther 3:2).

This enraged Haman, who convinced the king to sign a proclamation to destroy all those who did not obey all of the king’s laws (including bowing down to Haman). He sent dispatches throughout the land with orders to kill all of the Jews on a certain day. Once again, Mordecai heard of this plot—an Amalekite planning to destroy all of God’s people–and convinced Esther to tell the king. Esther had much fear of admitting that she was a Jew for fear of being killed—and was terrified of asking for an audience with the king. If he didn’t ask to see her and she came to him, he had every right to kill her.

Mordecai convinced Esther that if she didn’t do something to protect the people of Israel, surely she would die and “relief will arise from another place…And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). She tells the king by planning banquets for him and Haman, identifying Mordecai as the one who foiled the plot against the king, and tells the king of Haman’s plot to destroy all the Jews. The king instead has Haman the Amalekite killed.

Why Were the Amalekites Such Despised Enemies of Israel?

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia theorizes, “Their attack upon [the Israelites] when they had just escaped from Egypt and while they were struggling through the wilderness made a deep impression upon the Israelites which they never forgot, and the wrath of David upon the messenger who brought him news of the death of Saul and Jonathan, declaring himself to be the slayer of Saul, was no doubt accentuated by his being an Amalekite (2 Samuel 1:1-16).”

Matthew Henry gives a different perspective on where the enmity originated. In his Bible commentary, he wrote, “The Amalekites were the posterity of Esau, who hated Jacob because of the birthright and blessing, and this [the unprovoked attack on Israel in the wilderness] 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.”

The Amalekites were the enemies of Israel because they were the enemies of God. While he may have used an enemy to show Israel they couldn’t live without God’s protection, as He mentioned through Moses in the wilderness, His heart has always been for His people. He will always be glorified when His children love, trust, and obey–and when they return to Him in repentance for forgiveness.

Photo Credit: public domain illustration by Philip de Vere via Wikimedia Commons.

Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).  

This article is part of our People from the Bible Series featuring the most well-known historical names and figures from Scripture. We have compiled these articles to help you study those whom God chose to set before us as examples in His Word. May their lives and walks with God strengthen your faith and encourage your soul.

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