zerah Summary and Overview

sunrise. (1.) An "Ethiopian," probably Osorkon II., the successor of Shishak on the throne of Egypt. With an enormous army, the largest we read of in Scripture, he invaded the kingdom of Judah in the days of Asa (2 Chr. 14:9-15). He reached Zephathah, and there encountered the army of Asa. This is the only instance "in all the annals of Judah of a victorious encounter in the field with a first-class heathen power in full force." The Egyptian host was utterly routed, and the Hebrews gathered "exceeding much spoil." Three hundred years elapsed before another Egyptian army, that of Necho (B.C. 609), came up against Jerusalem. (2.) A son of Tamar (Gen. 38:30); called also Zara (Matt. 1:3). (3.) A Gershonite Levite (1 Chr. 6:21, 41).

(rising (of the sun)). 1. A son of Reuel, son of Esau, #Ge 36:13; 1Ch 1:37| and one of the "dukes" or phylarchs of the Edomites. #Ge 36:17| (B.C. after 1760.) 2. Less properly, Zarah, twin son, with his elder brother Pharez, of Judah and Tamar. #Ge 38:30; 1Ch 2:4; Mt 1:3| (B.C. about 1728.) His descendants were called Zarhites, Ezrahites and Izrahites. #Nu 26:20; 1Ki 4:31; 1Ch 27:8,11| 3. Son of Simeon, #1Ch 4:24| called ZOHAR in #Ge 46:10| (B.C. 1706.) 4. A Gershonite Levite, son of Iddo or Adaiah. #1Ch 6:21,41| (B.C. 1043.) 5. The Ethiopian or Cushite, an invader of Judah, defeated by Asa about B.C. 941. [ASA] Zerah is probably the Hebrew name of Usarken I., second king of the Egyptian twenty-second dynasty; or perhaps more probably Usarken II his second successor. In the fourteenth year of Asa, Zerah the Ethiopian, with a mighty army of or million, invaded his kingdom, and advanced unopposed in the field as far as the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. The Egyptian monuments enable us to picture the general disposition of Zerah's army. The chariots formed the first corps in a single or double line; behind them, massed in phalanxes, were heavy-armed troops; probably on the flanks stood archers and horsemen in lighter formations. After a prayer by Asa, his army attacked the Egyptians and defeated them. The chariots, broken by the charge and with horses made unmanageable by flights of arrows must have been forced back upon the cumbrous host behind. So complete was the overthrow that the Hebrews could capture and spoil the cities around Gerah which must have been in alliance with Zerah. The defeat of the Egyptian army is without parallel in the history of the Jews. On no other occasion did an Israelite army meet an army of one of the great powers and defeat it.

ZE'RAH (a rising of light). 1. An Ethiopian or Cushite king who with an immense army invaded the kingdom of Judah in the reign of Asa, but was completely routed at Mareshah, in the valley of Zephathah, 2 Chr 14:9; has by some been identified with Uraken I. or II. of the twenty-second dynasty of Egypt. 2. A son of Reuel, and grandson of Esau. Gen 36:13, 2 Sam 21:17, 1 Sam 15:33; 1 Chr 1:37, 1 Chr 1:44. 3. A son of Simeon, Num 26:13; 1 Chr 4:24; called Zohar in Gen 46:10. 4. A Gershonite Levite. 1 Chr 6:21, 1 Chr 6:41.

1. Younger twin son with Pharez of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38:30; 1 Chronicles 2:6; Matthew 1:3). 2. Son of Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:24). (See ZOHAR in Genesis 46:10. 3. A Gershonite Levite, son of Iddo or Adaiah (1 Chronicles 6:21; 1 Chronicles 6:41). 4. The Ethiopian (Cushite) invader defeated by ASA . About this very time there reigned a king Azerch Amar in Ethiopia, whose monuments are found at Napata. The Hebrew abbreviated the name into Zerah. Also an Ozorchon occupied the throne from 956 to 933 B.C. Ozorchon II. succeeded to the throne in right of his wife, sister of the previous king, and so may have been an Ethiopian; but the former is more probable. The defeat of the army of such a great world power as Egypt or Ethiopia is unparalleled in Israel's history, and could only have been through the divine aid. "Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled, and Asa pursued them unto Gerar, and the Ethiopians were overthrown that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before Jehovah and before His host, and they carried away much spoil" (2 Chronicles 14:9-13). The greatness of Egypt which Shishak had caused diminished at his death. His immediate successors were of no note in the monuments. Hence Asa was able in the first ten years of his reign to recruit his forces and guard against such another invasion as that of Shishak had been. Zerah seems to have taken advantage of Egypt's weakness to extort permission to march his enormous force, composed of the same nationalities (Ethiopians and Lubims: 2 Chronicles 16:8; 2 Chronicles 12:3) as those of the preceding invader Shishak, through Egypt, into Judah.