And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
Elam - the country stretching east from the Lower Tigris, answering to what was afterward called Persia (note, Isaiah 21:2). Later, Elam was a province of Persia (Ezra 4:9). In Sennacherib's time Elam was subject to Assyria (2 Kings 18:11), and so furnished a contingent to its invading armies. Famed for the bow (Isaiah 13:18; Jeremiah 49:35), in which the Ethiopians alone excelled them.
With chariots of men (and) horsemen - i:e., they use the bow both in chariots and on horseback. De Dieu takes the Hebrew for "horsemen," " paaraashiym (H6571), to be 'on horses,' as the Arabs use the word. So in Isaiah 28:28. "Chariots of men" mean chariots in which men are borne, war-chariots. Or else, rekeb (H7393) (the English version, 'chariot') means 'a cavalcade of men,' 'a body of riders:' 'Elam bare the quiver with a cavalcade of men (namely), horsemen.' I prefer this, as the Hebrew for men is not ish, a hero, or warrior; but the general term for men, 'aadaaam (H120) (cf. note, Isaiah 21:7; Isaiah 21:9).
Kir - another people subject to Assyria (2 Kings 16:9); the region about the river Kur, between the Caspian and Black Sea.
Uncovered the shield - took off for the battle the leather covering of the shield, intended to protect the embossed figures on it from dust or injury during the march. "The quiver" and "the shield" express two classes-light and heavy armed troops.