| Easton's Bible Dictionary Sunrise. (1.) An "Ethiopian," probably Osorkon II., the successor of Shishak on the throne of Egypt. With an enormous army, the largest we read of in Scripture, he invaded the kingdom of Judah in the days of Asa (2 Chronicles 14:9-15). He reached Zephathah, and there encountered the army of Asa. This is the only instance "in all the annals of Judah of a victorious encounter in the field with a first-class heathen power in full force." The Egyptian host was utterly routed, and the Hebrews gathered "exceeding much spoil." Three hundred years elapsed before another Egyptian army, that of Necho (B.C. 609), came up against Jerusalem. (2.) A son of Tamar (Genesis 38:30); called also Zara (Matthew 1:3). (3.) A Gershonite Levite (1 Chronicles 6:21, 41). Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia ZERAH ze'-ra (zerach, meaning uncertain):
(1) In Genesis 38:30; Genesis 46:12 Numbers 26:20 Joshua 7:1, 18, 24; Joshua 22:20 1 Chronicles 2:4, 6; 1 Chronicles 9:6; Nehemiah 11:24 Matthew 1:3, younger twin-son of Judah and Tamar, and an ancestor of Achan. In Numbers 26:20 Joshua 7:17 he is the head of the Zerahites (also 1 Chronicles 27:11, 13). the King James Version has "Zarah" in Genesis 38:30; Genesis 46:12, and "Zarhites" for "Zerahites" in Numbers, Joshua and 1 Chronicles. See Curtis (Chronicles, 84) for identification of Ezrahite with Zerahite.
(2) Edomites:
(a) an Edomite chief (Genesis 36:13, 17 1 Chronicles 1:37);
(b) father of an Edomite king (Genesis 36:33 1 Chronicles 1:44).
(3) Levites:
(a) 1 Chronicles 6:21 (Hebrew verse 6);
(b) 1 Chronicles 6:41 (Hebrew verse 26).
(4) Head of the Zerahites (Numbers 26:13, the King James Version "Zarhites"; 1 Chronicles 4:24). In Numbers 26:13 = "Zohar" of Genesis 46:10 Exodus 6:15.
See ZOHAR, (2).
(5) Cushite king (2 Chronicles 14:9). See the next article
David Francis Roberts ZERAH (THE ETHIOPIAN) (zerach ha-kushi (2 Chronicles 14:9); Zare): A generation ago the entire story of Zerah's conquest of Asa, coming as it did from a late source (2 Chronicles 14:9-15), was regarded as "apocryphal": "If the incredibilities are deducted nothing at all is left" (Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Israel, 207, 208); but most modern scholars, while accepting certain textual mistakes and making allowance for customary oriental hyperbole in description; accept this as an honest historical narrative, "nothing" in the Egyptian inscriptions being "inconsistent" with it (Nicol in BD; and compare Sayce, HCM, 362-64). The name "Zerah" is a "very likely corruption" of "Usarkon" (U-Serak-on), which it closely resembles (see Petrie, Egypt and Israel, 74), and most writers now identify Zerah with Usarkon II, though the Egyptian records of this particular era are deficient and some competent scholars still hold to Usarkon I (Wiedemann, Petrie, McCurdy, etc.). The publication by Naville (1891) of an inscription in which Usarkon II claims to have invaded "Lower and Upper Palestine" seemed to favor this Pharaoh as the victor over Asa; but the chronological question is difficult (Eighth Memoir of the Egyptian Exploration Fund, 51). The title "the Cushite" (Hebrew) is hard to understand. There are several explanations possible.
(1) Wiedemann holds that this may refer to a real Ethiopian prince, who, though unrecorded in the monuments, may have been reigning at the Asa era. There is so little known from this era "that it is not beyond the bounds of probability for an Ethiopian invader to have made himself master of the Nile Valley for a time" (Geschichte von Alt-Aegypten, 155).
(2) Recently it has been the fashion to refer this term "Cushite" to some unknown ruler in South or North Arabia (Winckler, Cheyne, etc.). The term "Cushite" permits this, for although it ordinarily corresponds to ETHIOPIA (which see), yet sometimes it designates the tract of Arabia which must be passed over in order to reach Ethiopia (Jeremias, The Old Testament in the Light of Ancient East, I, 280) or perhaps a much larger district (see BD; EB; Hommel, Ancient Hebrew Tradition; Winckler, KAT, etc.). This view, however, is forced to explain the geographical and racial terms in the narrative differently from the ordinary Biblical usage (see Cheyne, EB). Dr. W. M. Flinders Petrie points out that, according to the natural sense of the narrative, this army must have been Egyptian for
(a) after the defeat it fled toward Egypt, not eastward toward Arabia;
(b) the cities around Gerar (probably Egyptian towns on the frontier of Palestine), toward which they naturally fled when defeated, were plundered;
(c) the invaders were Cushim and Lubim (Libyans), and this could only be the case in an Egyptian army; (d) Mareshah is a well-known town close to the Egyptian frontier (History of Egypt, III, 242-43; compare Konig, Funf neue arab. Landschaftsnamen im Altes Testament, 53-57).
(3) One of the Usarkons might be called a "Cushite" in an anticipatory sense, since in the next dynasty (XXIII) Egypt was ruled by Ethiopian kings.
Camden M. Cobern |  | Multi-Version Concordance Zerah (22 Occurrences) Matthew 1:3 Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram. (WEB ASV BBE NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 36:13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 36:17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 36:33 Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, reigned in his place. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 38:30 Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 46:12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) Numbers 26:13 of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Numbers 26:20 The sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Joshua 7:1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore Yahweh's anger burned against the children of Israel. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Joshua 7:18 He brought near his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Joshua 7:24 Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Joshua 22:20 Didn't Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn't perish alone in his iniquity.'" (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 1:37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 1:44 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 2:4 Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 2:6 The sons of Zerah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara; five of them in all. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 4:24 The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul; (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 6:21 Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 6:41 the son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 9:6 Of the sons of Zerah: Jeuel, and their brothers, six hundred ninety. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Chronicles 14:9 There came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a million troops, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Nehemiah 11:24 Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the children of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) |
