Amalekites

The Amalekites are a people named in the Torah both in the account of a campaign through their territory and in the genealogy of Esau’s descendants. The text associates them with the southern landscape and with Amalek, born to Eliphaz and Timna, but offers no continuous narrative of their political history.

Appearance in the Campaign Narrative

During the fourteenth year of the revolt against Chedorlaomer, the kings accompanying him turned back toward En-mishpat, identified as Kadesh, and struck the country of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites living at Hazazon-tamar. The account places the Amalekites’ territory along the route of a broad military campaign through the region, before the later battle in the Vale of Siddim.

This episode names the Amalekites as a people whose country was affected by the kings’ expedition. It does not describe their rulers, their response, or any encounter between them and Abram; the narrative moves on to the conflict between the invading kings and the rulers of the cities of the plain.

Descent from Esau

The genealogy of Esau identifies Amalek as the son of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and Timna, Eliphaz’s concubine. The text places Amalek within the line of Esau and among the descendants associated with the land of Edom.

Amalek’s name also appears in the subsequent list of chiefs descended from Eliphaz: the chiefs of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. The genealogy thus presents Amalek both as an individual ancestor and as the source-name represented in a clan leadership list, without narrating events in his life.

Scope and Significance

Together, the campaign notice and the genealogy connect the Amalekites to two complementary frames: territorial history and descent. One records their country as a location encountered by conquering kings; the other situates Amalek among Esau’s descendants and the chiefs of Edom.

The evidence is brief and does not establish a direct relationship between the Amalekites and Israel in these passages. Their significance here is therefore chiefly genealogical and geographical: the name marks a people in the southern region and a lineage within the wider account of Esau’s house.