Then came Amalek
Exodus 17:8
17:8 Then came Amalek. The Amalekites were a powerful and notoriously cruel people that were frequently at war with the nation of Israel. The only Amalek mentioned in the Bible was a grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12). But that this Amalek was the ancestor of the Amalekite nation is doubtful in view of the reference to them in the time of Abraham (Genesis 14:7). There are some who have argued (Velikovsky, Courville, etc.) that these were none other than the Hyksos (a name supposedly meaning “shepherd-kings”), and that they were on their way toward invading Egypt when they encountered the fleeing Israelites. According to this scenario, it was the plagues and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army that enabled them to conquer Egypt and to rule there for two hundred years or more.
