1 Samuel 15:2

Amalek . The Amalekites were a fierce race of nomads who inhabited the desert to the south of Judaea towards Egypt. They were, and still continue to be in their descendants, the Bedouins, an untamable race of savages, whose delight is in robbery and plunder. Between them and Israel there was bitter hostility occasioned by their having attacked the people immediately after the Exodus ( Exodus 17:8-16 ), and the command there given to exterminate them is repeated now, probably in consequence of their raids having become more numerous and sanguinary under their present king, as we gather from 1 Samuel 15:33 . The reference to a war with the Amalektes in 1 Samuel 14:48 no doubt refers to this expedition, as we have there a mere summary of Saul's military enterprises. I remember. Literally, "I have visited;" but the sense of remembering seems confirmed by such passages as Genesis 21:1 ; Genesis 1:24 ; Isaiah 23:17 ; Isaiah 26:16 . The Septuagint, however, and Aquila, give a very good sense: "I have considered, "thought over." How he laid wait for him in the way. There is no idea in the Hebrew of ambuscade or treachery. It is simply, "How he set himself in the way against him," i.e. opposed, withstood him, tried to bar his progress.