1 Samuel 15:5

5 Sha'ul came to the city of `Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.

1 Samuel 15:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 15:5

And Saul came to a city of Amalek
With his army, perhaps the nearest city of it to the land of Israel; though some think that Amalek was the name of the city, and was the metropolis of the nation, and had its name from thence: and laid wait in the valley; which was near the city, to intercept the inhabitants when they should come out against him: or "he contended" ^F23 as some render it, he fought with them there; the Targum,

``he ordered his army,''

set them in battle array, or pitched his camp there.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (bryw) "et certavit Pagninus"; "ut contenderet cum eo", Junius & Tremellius.

1 Samuel 15:5 In-Context

3 Now go and strike `Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

4 Sha'ul summoned the people, and numbered them in Tela'im, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Yehudah.

5 Sha'ul came to the city of `Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.

6 Sha'ul said to the Kinim, Go, depart, get you down from among the `Amaleki, lest I destroy you with them; for you shown kindness to all the children of Yisra'el, when they came up out of Mitzrayim. So the Kinim departed from among the `Amaleki.

7 Sha'ul struck the `Amaleki, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Mitzrayim.