Editing Amalek (section)

===Modern academia===
Some commentators have discussed the ethics of the commandment to exterminate all the Amalekites, including children, and the presumption of [[collective punishment]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Divine Command Ethics: Jewish and Christian perspectives |last=Harris |first=Michael J. |pages=137–138}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Bible's Top Fifty Ideas: The essential concepts everyone should know |last1=Elkins |first1=Dov Peretz |last2=Treu |first2=Abigail |pages=315–316}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Ethics of War: Shared problems in different traditions |first1=Richard |last1=Sorabji |last2=Rodin |first2=David |page=98}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Theory and Practice in Old Testament Ethics |author1=Rogerson, John William |author2=Carroll, M. Daniel |page=92}}</ref> It has also been described as [[Genocide|genocidal]], according to [[Genocide studies|genocide scholars]] like [[Norman Naimark]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Naimark |first1=Norman M. |title=Genocide: A World History |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-976526-3 |language=en|pages=8–9}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morriston |first1=Wes |title=Ethical Criticism of the Bible: The Case of Divinely Mandated Genocide |journal=Sophia |date=2012 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=117–135 |doi=10.1007/s11841-011-0261-5 |s2cid=159560414 |url=https://spot.colorado.edu/~morristo/divinely-mandated-genocide.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Freeman |first1=Michael |title=Religion, nationalism and genocide: ancient Judaism revisited |journal=European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie / Europäisches Archiv für Soziologie |date=1994 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=259–282 |doi=10.1017/S000397560000686X |jstor=23997469 |s2cid=170860040 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23997469 |issn=0003-9756}}</ref>{{sfn|Kugler|2020}}

Kluger believes that the context of the extermination verses can be explained by the fact that the Israelites see the Amalekites as their "unwelcome brother" and they also see the Amalekites as the "[[Mamzer|rejected son]]", possessing all of the negative qualities that the Israelites inherently saw within themselves, which Kluger sees as a form of [[Self-hating Jew|self-hatred]]. However, she notes that the Hebrew Bible is surprisingly neutral when it describes the Amalekites and she also notes that the texts do not provide an adequate explanation on why they were singled out for complete annihilation, compared to the Egyptians and the Canaanites for example.{{sfn|Kugler|2020}}

Ada Taggar-Cohen observes that ''ḥerem'' commands were not uncommon in the ancient Near East. Their purpose was to show the enemy that the deity was on the aggressor's side and the enemy deserved the said deity's wrath as punishment for their "sins". It also allowed kings to pursue militarist policies without taking any moral responsibility for them.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taggar-Cohen |first=Ada |date=October 6, 2022 |title=War at the Command of the Gods |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/war-at-the-command-of-the-gods |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209015324/https://www.thetorah.com/article/war-at-the-command-of-the-gods |archive-date=February 9, 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref>

C. L. Crouch considers the ''ḥerem'' commands to be an exceptional component to Israelite and Judahite warfare since they were erratically applied, even in the early stages of national and ethnic identity formation. They were an extreme means to eradicate the threat of chaos. Similar attitudes were held by [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrian]] rulers such as [[Esarhaddon]] and [[Ashurbanipal|Assurbanipal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crouch |first=C. L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDF9A0jT8RQC |title=War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East: Military Violence in Light of Cosmology and History |date=2009 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3110223514 |edition=1st|doi=10.1515/9783110223521 }}</ref>