COMPLAINT:
The Amalekites were completely destroyed, 5 times (Genesis 14:1, 7, 12; 1 Samuel 15:7-8, 20, 32-33; 27:8-9; 30:1, 17; 1 Chronicles 4:43) or were they (Esther 3:1)? Is there a contradiction?
RESPONSE:
We’ll begin with Esther 3:1. Haman was an Agagite. The title Agag was used by the kings of Amalek in the same way Pharaoh was used in Egypt. This means Haman descended from Amalek.
Let’s look at the verses given by the questioner to say the Amalekites were completely destroyed.
Genesis 14:7 says all the country of the Amalekites was attacked. Where does it say all were all destroyed?
…attacked all the country of the Amalekites…
In 1 Samuel 15, Saul was commanded to destroy the Amalekites. Though he says he did so (v 20), did he? If he demonstrated a focus for the mission God gave him, then we could have confidence that he killed all the Amalekites, but the fact is he speaks of sparking Agag and some of the flocks right in the same statement! Saul is not trustworthy, nor his account of what was done.
1 Samuel 27:8-9 speaks of David raiding and killing the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. The questioner’s assumption is that this was the only pocket of Amalekites around. Evidently it was not, since the Amalekites invaded the South in 1 Samuel 30:1. The Amalekites killed by David (v 17) were those involved in the raid, not all Amalekites. And again, 1 Chronicles 4:43 seems to be a specific group of Amalekites, not the entire race of people.
There is no contradiction.
A response to 1001 Bible Contradictions.
