Zerah

same as Zarah

Zerah

(rising (of the sun)).

1. A son of Reuel, son of Esau, (Genesis 36:13; 1 Chronicles 1:37) and one of the "dukes" or phylarchs of the Edomites. (Genesis 36:17) (B.C. after 1760.)
2. Less properly, Zarah, twin son, with his elder brother Pharez, of Judah and Tamar. (Genesis 38:30; 1 Chronicles 2:4; Matthew 1:3) (B.C. about 1728.) His descendants were called Zarhites, Ezrahites and Izrahites. (Numbers 26:20; 1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 27:8,11)
3. Son of Simeon, (1 Chronicles 4:24) called ZOHAR in (Genesis 46:10) (B.C. 1706.)
4. A Gershonite Levite, son of Iddo or Adaiah. (1 Chronicles 6:21,41) (B.C. 1043.)
5. The Ethiopian or Cushite, an invader of Judah, defeated by Asa about B.C. 941. [ASA] Zerah is probably the Hebrew name of Usarken I., second king of the Egyptian twenty-second dynasty; or perhaps more probably Usarken II his second successor. In the fourteenth year of Asa, Zerah the Ethiopian, with a mighty army of or million, invaded his kingdom, and advanced unopposed in the field as far as the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. The Egyptian monuments enable us to picture the general disposition of Zerah's army. The chariots formed the first corps in a single or double line; behind them, massed in phalanxes, were heavy-armed troops; probably on the flanks stood archers and horsemen in lighter formations. After a prayer by Asa, his army attacked the Egyptians and defeated them. The chariots, broken by the charge and with horses made unmanageable by flights of arrows must have been forced back upon the cumbrous host behind. So complete was the overthrow that the Hebrews could capture and spoil the cities around Gerah which must have been in alliance with Zerah. The defeat of the Egyptian army is without parallel in the history of the Jews. On no other occasion did an Israelite army meet an army of one of the great powers and defeat it.

Zerah

1. The son of Reuel, and grandson of Esau, Genesis 36:13,17.

2. Son of Judah and Tamar, Genesis 38:30; called Zara in Matthew 1:3.

3. Son of Simeon, and founder of the Zarhites, Numbers 26:13; called Zohar in Genesis 46:10.

4. A Cushite king who invaded Judah with an immense army in the reign of Asa, 2 Chronicles 14:9-13. It is not agreed by interpreters whether he came from Southern Arabia or from Egypt and Ethiopia. Many, however, follow Champollion, who identifies him with Osorchon and Osoroth of the Egyptian monuments and history, the son and successor of Shishak.

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).

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

2196. Zara -- Zerah, an Israelite
... Zerah, an Israelite. Part of Speech: Proper Noun, Indeclinable Transliteration:
Zara Phonetic Spelling: (dzar-ah') Short Definition: Zerah Definition: Zerah ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2196.htm - 6k

2283. Thamar -- Tamar, an Israelite woman
... Proper Noun, Indeclinable Transliteration: Thamar Phonetic Spelling: (tham'-ar)
Short Definition: Tamar Definition: Tamar, mother of Perez and Zerah by Judah ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2283.htm - 6k

2227. Zarchi -- descendant of Zerah
... Zarchi. 2228 . descendant of Zerah. Transliteration: Zarchi Phonetic Spelling:
(zar-khee') Short Definition: Zerahites. ... of Zerah NASB Word Usage Zerahites (6). ...
/hebrew/2227.htm - 6k

250. Ezrachi -- a descendant of Zerah
... a descendant of Zerah. Transliteration: Ezrachi Phonetic Spelling: (ez-raw-khee')
Short Definition: Ezrahite. ... of Zerah NASB Word Usage Ezrahite (1). Ezrahite. ...
/hebrew/250.htm - 6k

2226. Zerach -- three Israelites, also an Edomite, also an ...
... Zerach. 2227 . three Israelites, also an Edomite, also an Ethiopian. Transliteration:
Zerach Phonetic Spelling: (zeh'-rakh) Short Definition: Zerah. ... Zarah, Zerah ...
/hebrew/2226.htm - 6k

How Zerah, King of the Ethiopians, was Beaten by Asa; and How Asa ...
... How Zerah, King Of The Ethiopians, Was Beaten By Asa; And How Asa, Upon Baasha's
Making War Against Him, Invited The King Of The Damascens To Assist Him; And ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 12 how zerah king.htm

Zerah. CM The Chorus of Angels.
... 97 Zerah. CM The Chorus of Angels. The Chorus of Angels. (210) Calm on
the listening ear of night Come heaven's melodious strains ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/lorenz/the otterbein hymnal/97 zerah c m the chorus.htm

Chapter xxxvi
... Je'ush (v. Genesis 36:5) may mean "helper (is God)." Nahath (v. Genesis 36:13) means
"rest," Zerah ""rising" or "east"; Dishon (v. Genesis 36:21) ""gazelle ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter xxxvi.htm

Chapter xlvi
... And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah"now Er and Onan
died in the land of Canaan"and the sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter xlvi.htm

Synopsis. --Biblical Miracles the Effluence of Extraordinary Lives ...
... The boy Zerah Colburn in half a minute solved the problem, "How many seconds since
the beginning of the Christian era?" We prefer to call this a prodigy rather ...
/.../v synopsis biblical miracles the effluence.htm

National Apostasy
... The faith of Asa was put to a severe test when "Zerah the Ethiopian with an host
of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots," invaded his kingdom. ...
/.../white/the story of prophets and kings/chapter 8 national apostasy.htm

Asa's Prayer
... Zerah the Ethiopian, who was coming down on Asa, is said to have had a million
fighting-men at his back, but that is probably an erroneous figure, because Old ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/asas prayer.htm

Achan's Sin, Israel's Defeat
... 'But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan,
the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/achans sin israels defeat.htm

Genealogy of Jesus According to Matthew.
... brethren [mentioned here because they were the heads of the tribes for whom especially
Matthew wrote his Gospel]; 3 and Judah begat Perez and Zerah [these two ...
/.../mcgarvey/the four-fold gospel/iii genealogy of jesus according.htm

The Removal of Joseph's Father with all his Family, to Him, on ...
... Levi had three sons"Gersom, Caath, Merari. Judas had three sons"Sala, Phares,
Zerah; and by Phares two grandchildren, Esrom and Amar. ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 7 the removal of.htm

Zerah (22 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. ZERAH. ... See ZOHAR, (2). (5) Cushite king (2 Chronicles
14:9). See the next article David Francis Roberts. ZERAH (THE ETHIOPIAN). ...
/z/zerah.htm - 19k

Jah'zerah (1 Occurrence)
Jah'zerah. Jahzerah, Jah'zerah. Jahziel . Multi-Version Concordance
Jah'zerah (1 Occurrence). 1 Chronicles 9:12 and ...
/j/jah'zerah.htm - 6k

Achan (7 Occurrences)
... a'-kan (`akhan (in 1 Chronicles 2:7 Achar, `akhar, "troubler"): The descendant of
Zerah the son of Judah who was put to death, in Joshua's time, for stealing ...
/a/achan.htm - 12k

Perez (19 Occurrences)
... pe'-rez, fa'-rez (perets, "breach"): One of the twins born to Judah by Tamar, Zerah's
brother (. ... Matthew 1:3 Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. ...
/p/perez.htm - 13k

Ethiopian (11 Occurrences)
... the lofty nature of his character. CM Kerr. ZERAH (THE ETHIOPIAN). (zerach
ha-kushi (2 Chronicles 14:9); Zare): A generation ago the ...
/e/ethiopian.htm - 18k

Zerahites (5 Occurrences)
... (2) Descendants of Zerah, son of Judah (Numbers 26:20). ... Numbers 26:13 of Zerah, the
family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. ...
/z/zerahites.htm - 8k

Nahath (5 Occurrences)
... Genesis 36:13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ... 1
Chronicles 1:37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ...
/n/nahath.htm - 9k

Reuel (14 Occurrences)
... Genesis 36:13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ... 1
Chronicles 1:37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ...
/r/reuel.htm - 12k

Reu'el (10 Occurrences)
... Genesis 36:13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ...
1 Chronicles 1:37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ...
/r/reu'el.htm - 8k

Ezrahite (5 Occurrences)
... A title given to Ethan (1 Kings 4:31; Psalm 89, title) and Heman (Psalm 88,
title). They were both sons of Zerah (1 Chronicles 2:6). Int. ...
/e/ezrahite.htm - 9k

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