2 Chronicles 14 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~910-895 BC, the first decade of King Asa of Judah, the third king after the kingdom split
Location
Judah, the southern kingdom, with fighting in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah, a fortified town in the low rolling foothills between the coastal plain and the Judean highlands
Audience
Jewish readers of the post-exile period, who had no army of their own and lived under Persian rule, being shown what reliance on God rather than military strength looked like
Situation
Asa uses a decade of peace to tear down foreign altars and fortify his towns, then faces an enormous invading force led by Zerah the Cushite and prays rather than negotiates. Judah routs the invaders and carries off plunder as far as Gerar.
Key Background
Cush refers to the region south of Egypt, roughly modern Sudan, and Cushite soldiers served widely as mercenaries in Egyptian armies of the period, so this was likely an Egyptian-backed thrust up the coastal invasion route. Mareshah sat in the Shephelah, the buffer zone of low hills where Judah traditionally fortified against attacks from the coast, which is why Asa's building programme mattered so much. The sacred pillars and Asherah poles Asa destroyed were standing stones and carved wooden posts used in Canaanite fertility worship, and they had been quietly absorbed into Israelite practice for generations.
Abijah with and was buried in the of son became king in place, and in days the land had peace for ten years.
Asa did what was and in the eyes of his God.
He removed the foreign altars and the He smashed the and chopped down the
He told Judah to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, and to follow his and commands.
He also removed the hilltop shrines and from every town in Judah. The kingdom was at peace under him.
He built fortified cities in Judah because the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, because Yahweh had given him
He said to Judah, "Let's build up these cities with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours because we have Yahweh our God. We him, and he has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered.
Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah carrying and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand from Benjamin carrying small and bows. All of them were
Then the marched against them with an army of a men and three hundred chariots, and advanced as far as
Asa went out to face him, and they took battle positions in the of at Mareshah.
Then Asa called out to Yahweh his God: "Yahweh, there is no one like you to help — whether the army is huge or has no strength at all. Help us, Yahweh our God, because we are on you, and in your name we have come against this massive force. Yahweh, you are our God. Don't let a prevail against you."
Yahweh down the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
Asa and the army with him chased them all the way to So many Ethiopians fell that they couldn't recover — they were before Yahweh and his army. Judah's forces carried off a massive amount of
They attacked all the cities around Gerar because the of had fallen on them. They plundered every city, because there was so much to take.
They also raided the tents of the and carried off huge numbers of sheep, goats, and camels. Then they returned to