AGAG. — King of Amalek. To punish the raids and killings he had committed against Israel, God ordered the extermination of the Amalekites (v.), who had been fighting the Israelites for centuries, after blocking their way to Canaan (Ex. 17:8–16). At the command of Samuel, who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, Saul decreed the anathema or hērem against the enemies—that is, he devoted men and beasts to death; but he then transgressed the divine command, leaving A., defeated and captive, alive. Samuel, after reproaching Saul (“melior est oboedientia quam victimae,” Os. 6:6; Mt. 9:13; 12:7), applying the norms of holy war (Lev. 27:29) and the law of retaliation (Ex. 21:23–25), cut A. to pieces before the altar at Galgala (I Sam. 15).
A.’s famous statement about the bitter separation of death (ibid., V. 32) is found in the Septuagint and the Vulgate, but is absent from the Masoretic text. The name A. may perhaps have been a dynastic title, since there was already an “A., king of Amalek” in the time of Moses (Num. 24:7).