Chapter XIV
1–5 (compare 1 Kings xv. 9–15).
The Religious Policy of Asa.
In Kings the reign of Asa is reviewed with entire approval, according to Chronicles his conduct was marred only by the lack of faith manifested in his reliance on the king of Syria (see xvi. 1–10), and in his recourse to physicians at the close of his reign (xvi. 12).
¹So 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. ²And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God:
1. ten years] These ten years of rest are naturally to be assigned to the beginning of Asa’s reign; later on there was a rest of twenty years (compare xv. 10 with xv. 19). The number ten here makes a discrepancy with 1 Kings, for Baasha became king of Israel in the third year of Asa (1 Kings xv. 28, 33), and “there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days” (1 Kings xv. verse 32). If, however, we allow some latitude to the language both of 1 Kings and of Chronicles, the discrepancy becomes unimportant.
³for he took away the strange altars, and the high places, and brake down the pillars¹, and hewed down the Asherim; ⁴and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
¹ Or, obelisks.
3. he took away] In 1 Kings xv. 12, 13 he is said to have put away the sodomites, and all the idols that his fathers had made; and also “the abominable image” which Maacah, his mother, had made. These remarks are here ignored by the Chronicler, probably because they would be out of harmony with the comparatively pious character he has ascribed to Asa’s predecessors, Rehoboam and Abijah. They are given, however, in xv. 16, 17, where see note.
the strange altars] i.e. altars belonging to gods other than Jehovah.
and the high places] a direct contradiction of 1 Kings xv. 14, where it is said “But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his days.” This remarkable contrast affords a vivid illustration of the different standpoints of Kings and Chronicles In Kings the removal of the high-places is the great reform of later days effected by Hezekiah (1 Kings xviii. 4, 22), by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 8). To the Chronicler, who believed that the law centralising the worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem was in force from the Mosaic age, the abolition of the high-places was felt to be a minimum of reform and must surely have been carried out by any king with a claim to piety. See also the note on xv. 17.
the pillars] LXX. τὰς στήλας. The “pillar” or “obelisk,” Hebrew Maṣṣēbāh, was a monolith standing by an altar as a symbol of the god worshipped at the altar. In later days an image took the place of the pillar, i.e. the mere symbol was succeeded by the likeness of the god. (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites², pp. 203 ff., and for illustrations of those recently discovered at Gezer see Macalister, Bible Side-lights, or Driver, Modern Research as illustrating the Bible, p. 63.)
and hewed down the Asherim] An Ashērah (plural Ashērim and Ashēroth) was a wooden pole planted beside an altar as the symbol of a deity. It appears to have been a survival of tree-worship, as the Maṣṣēbāh was a survival of stone-worship. The Ashērah of itself did not represent any particular deity, but it could be carved to bear the symbol of any special god or goddess, e.g. of Ashtarte. (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites², pp. 186 ff.) Probably the term Ashērah was used in reference to the living sacred trees, which are still common in Palestine: see the present writer’s edition of the Mishna tractate, ‘Aboda Zara, pp. 60 f.
⁵Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.
5. the sun-images] Compare xxxiv. 4; Isaiah xvii. 8, xxvii. 9. The Hebrew word (“ḥamman”) is of uncertain meaning and the supposed connection with heat or the sun is unsatisfactory. On the whole the evidence points to the conclusion that the “ḥamman” was a stone pillar associated with the altar, and much the same as the “Maṣṣēbāh,” the difference perhaps being that the former was artificially shaped, the latter was of natural stone (see article Baal in Hastings’ Dictionary of Religion and Ethics, pp. 287, 288).
6–8.
Defensive Measures of Asa.
From xvi. 1–6 = 1 Kings xv. 17–22, it appears that there was a strong and probably a reliable tradition ascribing to Asa activity in building defensive townships in Judah. It is likely that the present verses with their vague reference to strongly built cities with no mention of their number or names are only an expansion of the more precise references in xvi. 6. The Chronicler has assigned the narrative given in xvi. 1–6 (the war with Baasha) to the close of Asa’s reign (for reasons noted under xvi. 1), and he obviously wanted something to occupy the ten years of peace with which—according to his story—the reign of Asa opened. This is conveniently found in a general allusion to building and fortification.
⁶And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest. ⁷For he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; 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. ⁸And Asa had an army that bare bucklers 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.
8. that bare bucklers and spears... that bare shields and drew bows] LXX., δύναμις ὁπλοφόρων (= ὁπλιτῶν) αἰρόντων θυρεοὺς καὶ δόρατα... πελτασταὶ καὶ τοξόται. The Chronicler divides Asa’s army into the heavy-armed men belonging to Judah and the light-armed bowmen belonging to Benjamin. Asa apparently had no chariots. “Bucklers” and “shields” should be transposed as in ix. 15.
of Judah three hundred thousand... of Benjamin... two hundred and fourscore thousand] The total is 580,000. Under Asa’s successor, Jehoshaphat, the numbers are (xvii. 14–18), Judah 780,000, Benjamin 380,000, making a total of 1,160,000, i.e. twice the total given above. The moral which the Chronicler would enforce by these figures seems to be that Judah was strong in the early days of Asa, while Asa showed faith in God, and that it became still stronger under his really religious successor, Jehoshaphat. Regarding the exaggeration of these figures, see the notes on xi. 1, and xvii. 14.
9–15 (no parallel in Kings).
Asa’s victory over Zerah: the Battle of Mareshah.
The present passage has much the same midrashic character as the account of Abijah’s victory related in the previous chapter, and some scholars consider that the story of the raid and defeat of Zerah has no basis in fact. It is, however, more probable that it originates in a genuine tradition of the repulse of some Egyptian, or rather Arabian (see note, verse 9), inroad, not necessarily, however, in the time of Asa: compare the Introduction § 7, p. l.
⁹And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came unto Mareshah.
9. against them] We should expect either against him (i.e. Asa) or against Judah. Perhaps this account has been torn out from some older document without regard to the context, so that the reference of them is lost. Compare notes on verses 12, 13, 14.
Zerah the Ethiopian] Rather, Zerah the Cushite (“man of Cush”). Cush (Genesis x. 7) was the ancestor of certain Arabian tribes, including Saba, see 1 Chronicles i. 9; and Arabians and Cushites (“Ethiopians” Authorized Version, also Revised Version) are mentioned as neighbours (2 Chronicles xxi. 16). It is therefore highly probable that the leader of the inroad was an Arabian (Sabean) and not an Ethiopian. (Compare S. A. Cook in Expository Times June, 1906, p. 541, against Petrie, History of Egypt.) Zerah perhaps represents Dhirrīh (Zirrīh), a title (meaning “the magnificent”) of several of the oldest princes of Saba. The tradition may therefore be brought into connection with the many indications in Chronicles of Arabian incursions on the southern borders of Judah. Mareshah, where the battle was fought (verse 9), was one of the ancient seats of the Calebites from which they were driven northwards (compare 1 Chronicles ii.). Those who prefer to regard Cushite as = Ethiopian—see 1 Chronicles i. 8—and Zerah as an Egyptian king, have to suppose that “Ethiopian” is applied to him loosely and somewhat ignorantly; and further, as no king of Egypt is so named, that Zerah must denote Osorkon I or II, or perhaps be the name of a general of Osorkon. From xvi. 8 (see the note on Lubim) it would seem probable that the Chronicler believed Zerah’s host to be an Egyptian force.
a thousand thousand] An inroad of the “children of the East” was formidable from sheer weight of numbers. We may gather from xvi. 8 that the original assailants were joined by other hordes as they drew near the border of Judah. The number a thousand thousand is probably meant to signify that the host was too great to number; it is, of course, not to be taken literally.
three hundred chariots] The chariots, though comparatively few, are mentioned, (1) perhaps because Asa himself had none, (2) perhaps also because they represent an Egyptian contingent. This suggestion receives support from xvi. 8, where the Lubim (compare xii. 3) are associated with the Cushites in the invasion. The cowardly foreign policy of Egypt may have led her on this occasion to defend her own borders from the barbarian hordes by encouraging them to invade her neighbour’s territories.
The reading three hundred is supported by the LXX. and is probably right. The reading of the Peshitṭa, “thirty thousand,” and the wording of xvi. 8, “with exceeding many chariots and horsemen,” seem like a retouching of the narrative to make the number of the chariots and horsemen correspond with the number of the whole host.
Mareshah] See note on xi. 8.
¹⁰Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, there is none¹ beside² thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength: help us, O Lord our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.
¹ Or, there is no difference with thee to help, whether the mighty or him &c.
² Or, like.
10. in the valley] Probably the valley in which Beit-Jibrin now stands, one of several valleys giving access from the Shephelah into central Judah (G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, pp. 230–233). In such a place a large force might easily be discomfited by a few resolute men (compare 2 Samuel xvii. 9, 10).
of Zephathah at Mareshah] Render with LXX., north of Mareshah (reading Ṣaphonah for Zephathah). No valley or town called “Zephathah” is known.
¹²So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.
12. the Lord smote] Compare xiii. 15. The use of The Name, Jehovah (translated The Lord), instead of the general word “God” here and in verses 13, 14 is in favour of the view that the Chronicler took this account from some earlier document, perhaps a midrashic history of Judah (Introduction § 5, p. xxxvi).
the Ethiopians] Rather, the Cushites.
¹³And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many¹ that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed² before the Lord, and before his host; and they carried away very much booty.
¹ Or, so that none remained alive.
² Hebrew broken.
13. Gerar] Identified with Jerār, ruins three hours south of Gaza; compare 1 Chronicles iv. 39 (read “Gerar,” LXX. Γέραρα), so many that they could not recover themselves] Or perhaps, as margin, so that none remained alive.
very much booty] The phrase used belongs to a style earlier than that of the Chronicler. Compare note on verse 9 (against them).
¹⁴And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the Lord¹ came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them.
¹ Or, a terror from the Lord.
14. the fear of the Lord] The Chroniclers own phrase is “the fear of God” (xx. 29).
much spoil] Again we miss a favourite expression of the Chronicler: “exceeding (lārōbh) much spoil.”
¹⁵They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
15. the tents of cattle] These words are so strange an expression that it is probable the text is corrupt. If so, the original reading is unknown, for the LXX. has the same reading as the Hebrew It adds a proper name, evidently intended as the name of an Arabian tribe, but this addition appears to be a gloss derived from a reading of the LXX. in xxii. 1.