The Scriptural account of this man’s ill-starred military expedition is given in the fourteenth chapter of II Chronicles. When King Abijah died, his son Asa succeeded to the throne. The ascension of Asa was followed by ten years of such peace and prosperity as was almost unprecedented in those troublous times. The reason given is that Asa was a godly man and found favour in the sight of the Lord. He shattered the images erected to unclean idols, cut down the groves where Ashtoreth was worshipped, demolished the altars and the high places, and purged the land of its apostasy. He compelled the people of Judah to return to the true faith and to obey the Lord and His commandments. He strengthened the fortified centers and in a masterly fashion built up his reserves. The ten years of prosperity and industry found the land of Judah in an enviable condition that left it well worth robbing! Since the opportunity to steal and loot was the only incentive required by the grim pragmatists of antiquity, Zera, or Osarkon, gathered together an army of a million foot soldiers, reinforced with three hundred chariots, and journeyed toward Palestine to loot the land. The vicinity of Mareshah was chosen as the site of the battle and Asa came out with his pitiful little company to defend his possessions. The drama of this record begins in the eleventh verse of the fourteenth chapter of II Chronicles in the great prayer of Asa: Plate 30 [Illustration: Enroute to the “High Place”] Plate 31 [Illustration: The Altar of Sacrifice] “And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, 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.” The high-hearted courage and simple faith of Asa is sufficient introduction to the very natural result, which follows in simple words: “So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.” We then read a condensed account of the pursuit that Asa and his people indulged in, chasing the horde of Egyptians all the way across their own border. They were in such confusion that they could not recover and make a stand, so that not even a rear-guard action was fought. The children of Israel recaptured all of the cities that Rehoboam had lost, and with a typical Hebraism the account concludes with the statement that “they carried away exceeding much spoil.” Although they never recovered the golden shields, it is to be hoped they got their equivalent in the value of this recounted spoil.