Amalek

Exodus 17:8 - The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

Amalek was a grandson of Esau. So these people were descendants of Abraham and Isaac just as the Israelites were. I wonder how many people on either side, now several generations down the line, realized that they were (very) distant cousins of each other.

I wonder why the Amalekites attacked the Israelites. What it something they said? Was it a surprise attack? I think the Amalekites were known as a warring tribe, but something made the leader(s) decide to fight. Was it fear of attack by the Israelites? Did they undertake a pre-emptive strike? Was it fear of losing their land? (Did they have any land to lose?) Did they simply want more stuff? Did the Israelites look like an easy mark to the Amalekite scouts?

I wonder what it was that made a given ancestor's name "sitck" as your tribal name. The Israelites could just as easily have been called the Abramites, Abrahamites, or Isaacites. They were also called Hebrews, which did date back to Abraham. The Amalekites could have been called Edomites (as others were, after Esau who was also called Edom) or Eliphazites.