2 Chronicles 14:13

13 and Asa and his troops pursued them as far as Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians were killed that the army was unable to rally and fight. They were overpowered by the Lord and his army, and the army took large amounts of loot.

2 Chronicles 14:13 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 14:13

And Asa, and the people that [were] with him, pursued them
unto Gerar
A city of the Philistines, ( Genesis 20:1 ) ,

and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover
themselves;
they were thrown into such a fright, and into so much confusion, that they could not put themselves in order, and rally again; or there fell such a vast number of them, that there were scarce any remaining alive, which seems to be the sense of the words used:

for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his host;
the army of Israel, which the Lord was, as it were, the Commander of, fought for, and led them in the pursuit, and gave them victory; or it may mean an host of angels, employed in destroying this great army; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions of ( 2 Chronicles 14:12 ) read,

``the angel of the Lord smote the Ethiopians:''

and they carried away very much spoil;
which they found in their camp, and with their slain; even much gold and silver, as Josephus ^F7 says.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Ut supra, (Antiq. l. 8. c. 12.) sect. 2.

2 Chronicles 14:13 In-Context

11 Asa prayed to the Lord his God, "O Lord, you can help a weak army as easily as a powerful one. Help us now, O Lord our God, because we are relying on you, and in your name we have come out to fight against this huge army. Lord, you are our God; no one can hope to defeat you."

12 The Lord defeated the Ethiopian army when Asa and the Judean army attacked them. They fled,

13 and Asa and his troops pursued them as far as Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians were killed that the army was unable to rally and fight. They were overpowered by the Lord and his army, and the army took large amounts of loot.

14 Then they were able to destroy the cities in the area around Gerar, because the people there were terrified of the Lord. The army plundered all those cities and captured large amounts of loot.

15 They also attacked the camps of some shepherds, capturing large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Hebrew] Cushite(s): [Cush is the ancient name of the extensive territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. This region was called Ethiopia in Graeco-Roman times, and included within its borders most of modern Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia (Abyssinia).]
• [b]. So many of the Ethiopians . . . fight; [or] The Ethiopians were completely defeated; not one of them was left alive.