Sunday Sermonette: Nope, never happened

The Book of Kings does tell us that Asa became king of Judah, and that he eliminated shrines to foreign gods. However, contrary to what we read below in Chronicles 14:3,  1 Kings: 15 says "Although he did not remove the high places, Asa ’s heart was fully committed to theLord all his life. "The Book of Kings entirely omits the succeeding story about the invasion by Zerah and the great battle. The Cushite kingdom is traditionally associated with Ethiopia, and the KJV identifies Zerah as Ethiopian, but the NIV translators don ' t tell us where they think he came from. It is of course inconceivable that anyone in those days would have led an army from Ethiopia to the Levant, which would have required crossing the Red Sea and then marching through the entirety of what is today Saudi Arabia and Jordan; or alternatively marching through Egypt. Look at the map, you ' ll see this is preposterous. So who knows where this guy actually came from, but on the other hand it is probable that nothing like this every happened. That an otherwise historically unknown king from that region could have raised an army of 1 million is absurd, but Asa ' s army of 580,000 is equally preposterous -- that number far exceeded the likely entire population of Judah. Who knows why this ridiculous story pops up here. It ' s likely just a grossly exaggerated version of some minor conflict. Mareshah, where this battle purportedly took place, is in a sparsely inhabited area southwest of Jerusal...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs