Mount of the Amalekites

The Mount of the Amalekites was a hill or elevated district in the territory of Ephraim near the town of Pirathon, mentioned once in Scripture in connection with Abdon the judge, who was buried at Pirathon "in the hill-country of the Amalekites" (Judg. 12:15). The reference indicates that this region of Ephraim had at some earlier period been occupied or associated with Amalekite settlements, traces of which remained in the local place-name even after Israelite settlement. Pirathon itself is generally identified with Fer'ata, a village about seven miles west-southwest of Shechem. The single mention of the Mount of the Amalekites is notable primarily as evidence of the distribution of Amalekite presence across Canaan beyond their better-known strongholds in the Negev and Sinai regions.