Agag

Agag ( Heb. אגג ) - the king of Amalekites .

Gustave Dore - Death of Agag

He was defeated and captured by Saul , the king of Israel, and then slain by the prophet Samuel ( I Sam. , XV).

The name of Agag is already mentioned in the “ Pentateuch of Moses ” ( Numbers , XXIV, 7), from which it is concluded that Agag was the common name of the Amalek kings, as the name of the Philistines and the Pharaoh of the Egyptians. Critics saw this as evidence of the later origin of the named chapter of the Pentateuch. - Aman , a Persian courtier described by the book of Esther , is called Agagi, that is, a descendant of the genus Agag, and Flavius ​​Joseph (Antt. - XI, 6, 5) directly designates him as an Amalekite. It is possible that Agag is not a name, but only the title of Amalekite kings.