Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 14:12

So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

12. the Lord smote ] Cp. 2Ch 13:15. The use of The Name, Jehovah (translated The Lord), instead of the word “God” here and in 2Ch 14:13-14 is in favour of the suggestion that the Chronicler took this account from some earlier document.

the Ethiopians ] Rather, the Cushites.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The defeat of Zerah is one of the most remarkable events in the history of the Jews. On no other occasion did they meet in the field and overcome the forces of either of the two great monarchies between which they were placed. It was seldom that they ventured to resist, unless behind walls. Shishak, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Nebuchadnezzar, were either unopposed or only opposed in this way. On the one other occasion on which they took the field – under Josiah against Necho – their boldness issued in a most disastrous defeat 2Ch 35:20-24. Now, however, under Asa, they appear to have gained a complete victory over Egypt. The results which followed were nicest striking. The Southern power could not rally from the blow, and, for above three centuries made no further effort in this direction. Assyria, growing in strength, finally, under Sargon and Sennacherib, penetrated to Egypt itself. All fear of Egypt as an aggressive power ceased; and the Israelites learned instead to lean upon the Pharaohs for support (2Ki 17:4; 2Ki 18:21; Isa 30:2-4, etc.). Friendly ties alone connected the two countries: and it was not until 609 B.C. that an Egyptian force again entered Palestine with a hostile intention.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah,…. With consternation and terror; they were thrown into a panic:

and the Ethiopians fled; before them, just as Jeroboam and Israel had, as related in the preceding chapter, 2Ch 13:15.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(12) So the Lord smote . . . before Judah.(Comp. 2Ch. 13:15-16.) Thenius remarks that the words of 1Ki. 15:15, about the spoils dedicated by Asa, help to establish the chroniclers accounts of this victory and that of Abijah.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

12. The Lord smote the Ethiopians But not without the help of Asa and his Jewish and Benjamite forces. Jehovah inspired his people with faith and their enemies with terror, thus making the former doubly strong and the latter hopelessly weak and fearful.

“Egyptian monuments,” says R. Stuart Poole, “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. Asa, marching down a valley, must have attacked in a heavy column, for none but the most highly disciplined troops can form line from column in the face of an enemy. His spearmen of Judah would compose this column; each bank of the valley would be occupied by the Benjamite archers, like those who came to David, ‘helpers of the war, armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow.’ 2Ch 12:1-2. No doubt the Ethiopian, confident in his numbers, disdained to attack the Hebrews, or clear the heights, but waited in the broad valley or the plain. From the account of Abijah’s defeat of Jeroboam, we may suppose that the priests sounded their trumpets, and the men of Judah descended with a shout. 2Ch 13:14-15. The hills and mountains were the favourite camping places of the Hebrews, who usually rushed down upon their more numerous or better disciplined enemies in the plains and valleys.” SMITH’S Bible Dictionary.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments