Then said Samuel, Bring you here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
The Amalekites (1 Samuel 14:6) were descendants of Esau (Genesis 36:12), whereas the Kenites traced their ancestry from Midian, one of Abraham’s sons by Keturah (Genesis 25:2). The Kenites had been friendly to Israel (Exodus 18:9-10; Exodus 18:19; Numbers 10:29-32), whereas the Amalekites had not. There may have been a treaty between the Israelites and the Kenites. [Note: See F. Charles Fensham, "Did a Treaty Between the Israelites and the Kenites Exist?" Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 175 (October 1964):51-54.] 