The Fire-pans

במדבר יז,ג: מַחְתוֹת הַחַטָאִים הָאֵּלֶה בְנַפְשתָם

Baal HaTurim notes that the only other time that the word "ha'cha'to'im" appears in Tanach is in Shmuel (1, 15:18) "and you (Shaul) shall destroy the sinners Amalek."

Like Korach and his men, who were aware when they brought the Ketores that their lives were at stake in the disputing the authority of Moshe, so did Amalek who, together with the rest of the world, had just witnessed the awe-inspiring miracles of the Exodus, yet they chose to attack K'lal Yisrael (like the well-known parable of a man jumping into a boiling bath).