a nomadic tribe of uncertain origin, which occupied the peninsula of Sinai and the wilderness intervening between the southern hill-ranges of Palestine and the border of Egypt. (Numbers 13:29; 1 Samuel 15:7; 27:8) Their wealth consisted in flocks and herds. Mention is made of a "town" (1 Samuel 15:5) but their towns could have been little more than stations or nomadic enclosures. The Amalekites first came in contact with the Israelites at Rephidim, but were signally defeated. (Exodus 17:8-16) In union with the Canaanites they again attacked the Israelites on the borders of Palestine, and defeated them near Hormah. (Numbers 14:45) Saul undertook an expedition against them. (1 Samuel 14:48) Their power was thenceforth broken, and they degenerated into a horde of banditti. Their destruction was completed by David. (1 Samuel 30:1-17)
Amalekites
Balaam calls Amalek “the first of the nations,” and Israel remembers him for how he fought. Moses recalls that Amalek “smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee,” and “feared not God.” Israel is told to remember, and “the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Later, Saul and David each fight Amalekites. These are among the hardest accounts to read, and Christians differ on how to understand wars commanded in the text. Exodus 17 and Deuteronomy 25:17-19 are the places to start.
14 verses
Exodus
And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Numbers
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.
Deuteronomy
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.
Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
1 Samuel
So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.
And he gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them.
And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.
And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
William Smith, 1884