Agag and Haman

[Guest]

Haman in Esther is said to be an Agagite. In other words, he is a descendant of Agag.

In 1 Samuel 15, Saul is said to have destroyed all the Amalekites man, boy, woman, girl, etc. He spared King Agag, but even he was destroyed eventually by Samuel.

Prior to killing all these people, Saul told the Kenites to get out from among the Amalekites because they were about to be destroyed.

The only way that I can account for Haman being a descendant of Agag, is that he had children with some of these Kenites and that eventually perpetuated into Haman of the book of Esther. Is this correct?

[Guest]

I don't know. But other Amalekites survived the slaughter of 1 Samuel 15, because, later, it was an Amalekite who claimed that he had killed Saul (2 Samuel 1). My guess is that the race of Amalekites were not all a single tribal settlement, and may have been in small communities in different parts of the country. Saul, in 1 Samuel 15, then, would have annihilated "all" the Amalekites in a settlement nearby (perhaps their primary group).

[Guest]

Thanks Steve.
I guess the wording of it makes it seem as though God intended all of Amalek to be slaughtered. I suppose that it is even possible that some could have escaped and they 'utterly destroyed' all that they could get hold of, instead of the meaning being utter (as in each and every one) destruction.