2 Chronicleschapter 14
15 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Key verse
And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.
It stands in A million Ethiopians, and a prayer that decides the battle, verses 9 to 15.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Asa does what is good and right, taking away the foreign altars and high places, breaking the pillars and hewing down the Asherim, and commanding Judah to seek Jehovah. Ten quiet years follow, and he uses them well: fortified cities with walls and towers and gates, 'for the land is yet before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God.' Then Zerah the Ethiopian comes with a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and Asa prays: 'Jehovah, there is none besides thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength: help us, O Jehovah our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come against this multitude.' The Ethiopians are broken.
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 14The history
The reform is a demolition list. Foreign altars and high places pulled down, standing stones broken, and the wooden poles of Asherah cut down. Those objects were the ordinary furniture of local worship all over the region, and archaeologists have recovered them from Israelite sites. Removing them was physical work with a political cost in every village.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The ten quiet years are spent on walls, towers, gates and bars. The writer connects the two openly. The land had rest, so the building happens now, and peace is treated as a construction window.
The army is described by its equipment, and the difference between the tribes is real. Judah's men carried the large shield and the spear, which is close formation fighting. Benjamin's carried a smaller shield and the bow, which fits everything else known about that tribe's preference for missile weapons.
Zerah is called the Cushite, and his identity is genuinely debated. He may have been a Nubian commander leading an Egyptian force, or the head of a Cushite people settled in the southern desert, since the survivors are pursued toward Gerar rather than toward Egypt. The battlefield itself is fixed. Mareshah is a Judean lowland fortress town that has been excavated, guarding the valley route up into the hills.
What it meant to them
Asa's prayer is the sentence the chapter exists for. There is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty.
That was written down for people who had no power at all, no army, no walls worth the name and no king. The chapter says the arithmetic was never the deciding factor.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Chronicles
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 14 falls in Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz (chapters 10–28). The divided kingdom narrated from Judah's side only; reform kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Jotham) and evil kings; prophetic interventions unique to Chronicles (Azariah, Hanani, Zechariah son of Jehoiada).
Before it: Solomon's reign, chapters 1–9. After it: Hezekiah to the exile, chapters 29–36.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Asa breaks down the altars and the land has rest
1. (v. 1)
2 Chronicles 14:1
“So Abijah slept with his fathers, 1Ki 15:8. and Asa his son reigned in his stead; in his days the land was quiet ten years; the Targum is, the land of Israel; but much better the Septuagint, the land of Judah; these ten years, in which it had rest from war, were the first three years of Asa's reign, and the first seven of Baasha's, according to Jarchi, and which seems right; after which there was war between them all their days, see 1Ki 15:32.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Chronicles 14:1
“Asa his son reigned - If Rehoboam was (1Ki 12:8 note) not more than 21 years old at his accession, Asa, when he mounted the throne, must have been a mere boy, not more than 10 or 11 years of age. The land was quiet ten years - The great blow struck by Abijah 2Ch 13:15-19, his alliance with Syria 1Ki 15:19, and the rapid succession of sovereigns in Israel during the earlier part of Asa’s reign 1Ki 15:25-33, would naturally prevent disturbance on the part of the northern kingdom.”
So Abijah slept with his fathers: Abijah's death closes the sermon and battle chapter before this one, and the throne passes to Asa while the record marks the land quiet ten years. Chronicles reads the quiet as the fruit of the victory at Zemaraim, when the routed Israel and Abijah's Syrian alliance kept the northern kingdom occupied through the change of kings. Barnes reckons Asa a boy of ten or eleven at his accession, so the quiet years cover a minority reign as much as a lull between kingdoms.
2. (vv. 2-5)
2 Chronicles 14:2
“Since Solomon admitted idolatry, in the latter end of his reign, nothing had been done to suppress it, and so, we presume, it had got ground. Strange gods were worshipped and had their altars, images, and groves; and the temple service, though kept up by the priests ( ch. xiii. 10 ), was neglected by many of the people.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 14:3
“For he took away the altars of the strange gods,....”
2 Chronicles 14:4
“And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers,.... To pray to him, and him only, and attend his worship and service; this he did by a public edict: and to do the law and the commandment: to observe all the laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and civil.”
2 Chronicles 14:5
“Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images,....”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 14:5
“Images - See the margin, sun-images; and Lev 26:30 note.”
did that which was good and right: Asa's reform runs point by point: the altars of strange gods, the high places, the images and the groves come down, and he commands Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and do the law and the commandment, the seeking refrain the Chronicler tracks through every reign that follows. Kings and Chronicles do not agree on the detail: 1 Kings 15:14 says the high places were not removed under Asa, while this chapter says they were, the same tension the record states again of Jehoshaphat at 2 Chronicles 17:6 against 20:33. Henry reads the reform as ground recovered since Solomon's old age, when idolatry first got a foothold and went unchecked.
3. (vv. 6-7)
2 Chronicles 14:6
“The land had rest - Those have rest indeed, to whom God gives rest; peace indeed, to whom Christ gives peace. We find by experience, it is good to seek the Lord.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Chronicles 14:7
“The land is yet before us - i. e., “unoccupied by an enemy” - “the land is open to us to go where we please.” Compare Gen 13:9. The fortification of the strongholds would be an act of rebellion against Egypt, and it might be expected that the Egyptians would endeavor to put a stop to it.”
built fenced cities in Judah: Asa turns the quiet into fortification: fenced cities, walls, towers, gates and bars go up while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God and he has given us rest on every side. The chain is the book's own logic stated once more, seeking answered by rest and rest spent on preparation rather than ease, the reasoning Jehoshaphat's court will run again in chapter 20. Barnes notes the fortification was itself a quiet act of independence, since Judah still sat inside the sphere Shishak's invasion had drawn a generation before.
4. (v. 8)
2 Chronicles 14:8
“Targets and spears - Probably targets with the dagger in the center, and javelins for distant fight. Bare shields and drew bows - They were not only archers, but had shield and sword for close fight.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
that bare targets and spears: The muster totals five hundred and eighty thousand between Judah's spearmen and Benjamin's archers, a figure the Chronicler sets down without comment, the same plain accounting the book gives for David's census lists and later reigns. Clarke reads the two tribes' equipment, targets and spears against shields and drawn bows, as the ordinary split between close fighting and fighting at distance in a Judean army of the period. The size sets up a contrast the next verses will not let stand, since a host this large still meets one many times over.
B. A million Ethiopians, and a prayer that decides the battle
1. (vv. 9-10)
2 Chronicles 14:9
“Zerah the Ethiopian is probably Usarken (Osorkon) II, the third king of Egypt after Shishak, according to the Egyptian monuments. Osorkon II may have been by birth an Ethiopian, for he was the son-in-law, not the son, of the preceding monarch, and reigned in right of his wife. The object of the expedition would be to bring Judaea once more under the Egyptian yoke. An host of a thousand thousand - This is the largest collected army of which we hear in Scripture; but it does not exceed the known numbers of other Oriental armies in ancient times.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 14:9
“Ethiopian - Or, the Arabian, as the Hebrew word Cush is commonly used: these being much nearer to Asa than the Ethiopians.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Chronicles 14:10
“Then Asa went out against him,.... Notwithstanding he brought so great an army with him: and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah; where the Ethiopians were; he did not stay till they got further into his country, but marched against them when on the frontiers of it, and chose the valley to pitch in, as being more to the advantage of his smaller army; see Jdg 1:17.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 14:10
“The “valley of Zephathah” - not elsewhere mentioned - is probably the broad Wady which opens out from Mareshah (marginal reference) in a northwesterly direction, leading into the great Philistine plain. Zerah, on the advance of Asa, drew off into the wider space of the Wady, where he could use his horsemen and chariots.”
Zerah the Ethiopian with an host: Zerah comes with a thousand thousand, the largest army named anywhere in the Old Testament, and three hundred chariots, advancing to Mareshah in Judah's own lowland. Wesley notes the Hebrew Cush often names an Arabian people rather than African Ethiopia, since Arabia sat far nearer Asa's border, and Barnes identifies Zerah with Osorkon the Second of Egypt's line, an identification offered as the historian's reading rather than a settled fact. Asa meets him at the valley of Zephathah rather than waiting for the advance to reach Jerusalem, choosing ground that favored the smaller army.
2. (v. 11)
2 Chronicles 14:11
“Whether with many - The same sentiment as that uttered by Jonathan, 1Sa 14:6, when he attacked the garrison of the Philistines. O Lord our God - we rest on thee - “Help us, O Lord our God; because we depend on thy Word, and in the name of thy Word we come against this great host.” - Targum.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 14:11
“He that sought God in the day of his peace and prosperity could with holy boldness cry to God in the day of his trouble, and call him his God. His prayer is short, but has much in it. He gives to God the glory of his infinite power and sovereignty: It is nothing with thee to help and save by many or few, by those that are mighty or by those that have no power.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 14:11
“Asa prayed, and his prayer manifested great power: when Zerah the Indian [Ethiopian] went out against him with an army of one million with him, Asa then prayed, saying, "By this shall your power be known, O our God, when you finish off a vast people by means of a small people." God heard his prayer and sent his angel to rout them. Thus the vast army was defeated by the power of Asa's prayer.”
Aphrahat the Persian Sage· written before 345· DEMONSTRATION 4.8patristic
nothing with thee to help: Asa's cry, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power, is the book's first battle prayer and the model for Jehoshaphat's own we have no might, neither know we what to do at 2 Chronicles 20:12. Clarke traces the same reasoning back to Jonathan's word at Michmash, there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few, a king leaning on a young soldier's theology at the edge of an army many times his own. The prayer asks nothing of tactics; it rests the whole outcome on whose name the army carries into the field.
3. (vv. 12-13)
2 Chronicles 14:13
“And Asa, and the people that were with him, pursued them unto Gerar,....”
smote the Ethiopians before Asa: The verb belongs to the Lord, smote, ahead of any detailed account of the two armies closing, and the Ethiopians flee the way Jeroboam's Israel fled the chapter before at 2 Chronicles 13:15. Judah pursues them to Gerar, well inside Philistine country, and verse 13 twice credits the outcome to the Lord and to his host rather than to Judah's own numbers. Barnes calls the victory one of the rare occasions Judah met a great neighboring power in open field and prevailed, since Shishak, Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar were mostly resisted from behind walls, if resisted at all.
4. (vv. 14-15)
2 Chronicles 14:14
“And they smote all the cities round about Gerar,.... The cities of the Philistines, who were auxiliaries and confederates with these Ethiopians, and colonies from them, according to Theodoret, and who says, about Eleutheropolis was a place, called, in his time, Geraron Saton: for the fear of the Lord came upon them; so that they had no power to defend themselves, and oppose the men of Judah: and they spoiled all the cities; of the goods and substance that were in them: for there was exceeding much spoil in them; great wealth and riches of one kind or another.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 14:14
“There was - much spoil in them - These cities being on the rear of this vast army, they had laid up much forage in them; and to get this the Jews overthrew the whole.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Chronicles 14:15
“They smote also the tents of cattle,.... The people that dwelt in tents for the sake of the pasturage of their cattle; the Scenite Arabs, so called from dwelling in tents: and carried away sheep; which those Arabs were feeding in Palestine, and which this great army brought with them for their support: and camels in abundance; which is another circumstance proving them to be Arabs, who abounded with camels: and returned to Jerusalem; with their spoil, and with great joy.”
all the cities round about Gerar: The pursuit widens into a raid on every city around Gerar, the fear of the Lord going ahead of the army the way it goes before Jehoshaphat's enemies at 2 Chronicles 20:29. Gill reads the fallen towns as Philistine cities allied to Zerah's force, which explains the exceeding much spoil the chapter records inside them. The tents of cattle, the sheep and the camels taken from Arab herdsmen close the account in abundance rather than in a body count, and Judah carries it home to Jerusalem.
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 14. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.