_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.