And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.
There came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian. Zerah (Ewald, 'Geschichte,' 3:, p. 184; also Wilson's 'Lands of the Bible,' 1:, p. 91) is identified with Osorkon I., successor of Shishak. Wilkinson (Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' 2:, p. 378) throws a doubt on this, and maintains that Zerah was an Asiatic or Arabian, not an African Cushite. The probability is, that Zerah must have been chief of the Cushites, or Ethiopians of Arabia, as they were evidently a nomad horde who had a settlement of tents and cattle in the neighbourhood of Gerar. This also is the testimony of Josephus (cf. Ezekiel 29:10; Habakkuk 3:7, with 1 Chronicles 4:39; also Winer, 'Realworterbuch').
A thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots. 'Twenty camels employed to carry couriers upon them might have procured that number of men to meet in a short time. Since Zerah was the aggressor, he had time to choose when he would summon these men, and attack the enemy. Each one of these Cushite shepherds, carrying with them their own provisions of flour and water, as is their invariable custom, might have fought with Asa without eating a loaf of Zerah's bread or drinking a pint of his water' (Bruce's 'Travels').