“Remember Amalek!”: Vengeance, Zealotry, and Group Destruction in the Bible according to Philo, Pseudo-Philo, and Josephus

Louis H. Feldman

Hebrew Union College Press

Contents

Preface

• 1. Introduction
  • The Problem
  • Precedents and Parallels in Antiquity for the Command of Genocide
  • The Birth and Origin of Amalek
  • The Biblical Passages about Amalek's Attack on the Israelites

2. Amalek in Philo

3. Amalek in Pseudo-Philo

• 4. Amalek in Josephus
  • The Importance of Amalek for Josephus
  • Josephus’ Version of the Amalekite Attack
  • Saul’s Failure to Exterminate the Amalekites
  • David’s Campaign against the Amalekites

5. Amalek in Rabbinic Literature

• 6. The Alleged Jewish Hatred of Gentiles
  • The Equation of Esau and Rome
  • The Connection of Esau, Edom, and Amalek
  • Edom, Amalek, and the Prediction of the Fall of Rome

• 7. Parallels with a Divine Command to Eliminate a Group of People
  • The Destruction of Life in the Great Flood
  • The Biblical Account
  • The Historicity of the Flood
  • God’s Justification in Destroying Almost All Life
  • Attempts to get Humans to Repent
  • The Appropriateness of Sending a Flood as Punishment
  • The Justification for Saving Noah and His Family
  • Why Noah Offered a Sacrifice upon Emerging from the Ark
  • How to Explain the Drunkenness of Noah
  • The Tradition of the Noachian Covenant
  • Conclusion
  • The Utter Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
  • Seeming Divine Brutality: the Plague of the First-born Egyptians
  • The Command to Annihilate the Seven Nations of Canaan

• 8. Parallels to Group Destruction without a Divine Command
  • Revenge for the Rape of Dinah
  • The Annihilation of the Nations of Sihon and Og
  • The Complete Destruction of People and Animals in Jericho
  • The Extermination of the Priests of Nob
  • Phinehas’ Zealotry

9. Conclusion

Bibliography

• Index of Citations
• Index of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Akkadian Terms
• General Index