2 Chronicles 14:1-15
1 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.
2 And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God:
3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images,a and cut down the groves:
4 And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images:b and the kingdom was quiet before him.
6 And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the LORD had given him rest.
7 Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.
8 And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valour.
9 And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.
10 Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
11 And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many,c or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.
12 So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.
13 And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyedd before the LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil.
14 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them.
15 They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 14:3. Altars of the strange… The author of this book, like Moses, Deuteronomy 32:16, would not pollute his text with the unhallowed name of idols.
2 Chronicles 14:8. Out of Benjamin two hundred and fourscore thousand. Josephus following the Septuagint says, “Two hundred and fifty thousand.” The mode of numbering in Hebrew subjected the scribes to make frequent mistakes, which in very many places embarrass the sacred text.
REFLECTIONS.
Of Zerah's great army, and of Asa's victory over it, we had no account in the book of kings; nor are we told in what year of his reign he was invaded; but it probably happened in his early and more prosperous days. Whether this Zerah was an Ethiopian king who had overrun Egypt, and advanced with a million of men into Palestine, or whether he was an Arabian prince, which does not seem improbable, is wholly uncertain. But this is evident, that he met with shame instead of glory, and ruin instead of booty. From the immense slaughter of the ten tribes in the last reign, and the like slaughter of the heathen in this, we clearly perceive that while Jerusalem remained in close covenant with God, all that meddled with it, meddled to their own hurt; and their unavailing malice tended only to make the Lord's anointed rich and powerful in the earth, and more confident of his protection. To the christian, this should be a most encouraging consideration to abide in Christ.