an effort to retain it. Osorkon II., or whoever was king at the time,
rose to the occasion. If it was to be a contest of numbers, Egypt should
show that she was certainly not to be outdone numerically; so more
mercenaries than ever before were taken into pay, and an army was
levied, which is reckoned at "a thousand thousand" (ib. ver. 9),
consisting of Cushites or Ethiopians, and of Lubim (ib. xvi. 8), or
natives of the North African coast-tract, With these was sent a picked
force of three hundred war-chariots, probably Egyptian; and the entire
host was placed under the command of an Ethiopian general, who is called
Zerah. The host set forth from Egypt, confident of victory, and
proceeded as far as Mareshah in Southern Judæa, where they were met by
the undaunted Jewish king. What force he had brought with him is
uncertain, but the number cannot have been very great. Asa had recourse
to prayer, and, in words echoed in later days by the great Maccabee (1
Mac. iii. 18, 19), besought Jehovah to help him against the Egyptian
"multitude." Then the two armies joined battle; and, notwithstanding the
disparity of numbers, Zerah was defeated. "The Ethiopians and the Lubim,
a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen" (2 Chron. xvi. 8)
fled before Judah--they were "overthrown that they could not recover
themselves, and were destroyed before Jehovah and before His host" (ib.
xiv. 13). The Jewish troops pursued them as far as Gerar, smiting them
with a great slaughter, taking their camp? and loading themselves with
spoil. What became of Zerah we are not told. Perhaps he fell in the
battle; perhaps he carried the news of his defeat to his Egyptian
master, and warned him against any further efforts to subdue a people
which could defend itself so effectually.

The direct effect of the victory of Asa was to put an end, for three
centuries, to those dreams of Asiatic dominion which had so long floated
before the eyes of Egyptian kings, and dazzled their imaginations. If a