One other person, place or group in the registry answers to the name Amalek. Every Amalek in the Bible
- verses
- 2
- first named
- Genesis 36:12
- last named
- Genesis 36:16
- period
- the Patriarchs
- tribe
- Edom
Description
Who was Amalek?
Amalek is mentioned in the genealogy of Esau, the son of Isaac and the brother of Israel (or 'Jacob'), who became the ancestor of the Edomites. Amalek was the son of Eliphaz, Esau's firstborn son, and his concubine Timna. (Gen.36.12)
As a grandson of Esau, Amalek became the ancestor of the Amalekite people, a nomadic tribe that inhabited the Negev desert region south of Canaan. The Amalekites became a significant enemy of the Israelites during their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land and in the period of the judges and early monarchy.
In the book of Exodus, the Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim, but they were defeated by Joshua and the Israelite army under the leadership of Moses. (Exo.17.8-16) God declared that He would be at war with the Amalekites from generation to generation because of their opposition to Israel. (Exo.17.16)
Later, during the period of the judges, the Amalekites joined forces with the Moabites and Ammonites to attack Israel, but they were defeated by Ehud and the Israelite army. (Jdg.3.12-30)
In the time of King Saul, God commanded him to completely destroy the Amalekites because of their past hostility towards Israel. (1Sa.15.1-3) However, Saul disobeyed God's command by sparing the Amalekite king Agag and some of the livestock. This act of disobedience led to God's rejection of Saul as king. (1Sa.15.4-35)
The Amalekites continued to be a threat to Israel until the time of King David, who defeated them and secured Israel's borders. (1Sa.27.8; 30.1-20)
Amalek's mention in the genealogy of Esau and the subsequent history of the Amalekites highlight the ongoing conflict between the descendants of Jacob and Esau and the fulfillment of God's prophecy that the two nations would be in opposition to each other. (Gen.25.23)
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The 10 best-attested of 12 are drawn. All 12 are listed below.
Child of
- EliphazregistryGenesis 36:12Genesis 36:16
- Timnaregistry, no verse
- a wife of EliphazGenesis 36:12
Descendant of
Sibling of
Stands in the same events as
Places
Where this happens
The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.
The pattern
Where Amalek is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
2 verses across 1 of 66 books; 65 write the name nowhere. Named in Genesis (2).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 2, across 1 book.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Sources