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