the Arabians] compare xxi. 16. The term is here used to signify the desert tribes, in particular those on the south and south-west of Judah. It would be specially impressive to the contemporaries of the Chronicler, because by that period an Arabian people, the Nabateans, had established a powerful state to the south of Judah. On the other hand the Philistines would of course be familiar from the references to them in Samuel and Kings. The tradition that tribute was received from them and from some desert tribes may possibly be correct, especially if Zerah’s army was Arabian (xiv. 8, note) and if Asa’s victory over him is historical.
flocks] compare 2 Kings iii. 4.
¹²And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles and cities of store. ¹³And he had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valour, in Jerusalem.
12. castles] Hebrew bīrāniyyōth; compare xxvii. 4 (same word); and xxvi. 10 (“towers”). Such small castles or towers lie scattered along the pilgrim-road from Damascus to Mecca at the present day to make the way safe. See Introduction § 7, p. [xlviii.]
cities of store] compare xi. 11, 12.
14–19 (no parallel in 1 Kings).
The Number of Jehoshaphat’s Army.
In these verses Jehoshaphat is credited with an army of 1,160,000 men; and the passage may be noted as the most extreme instance of the midrashic exaggeration of numbers which is a well-marked feature of the Chronicler’s writing. If the possible proportions between the total numbers of a population and the men capable of military service at a given time be considered, it is easy to realise how monstrous an exaggeration are the figures here stated. They serve two purposes: (1) compared with the somewhat smaller numbers assigned to Abijah (xiii. 3) and to Asa (xiv. 8), they indicate that Jehoshaphat’s reign was even more prosperous; and (2) generally, they suggested to the men of the Chronicler’s own generation that in the eyes of all right-thinking men Jerusalem of old in its prosperous hours was not one whit less important and glorious than any huge and much-vaunted city of their own days.
For further examples of midrashic exaggeration, besides the passages named above, compare xi. 1; 1 Chronicles xii. 23, 24; and (as regards sums of money) 1 Chronicles xxii. 14; 2 Chronicles ix. 13.
¹⁴And this was the numbering of them according to their fathers’ houses: of Judah, the captains of thousands; Adnah the captain, and with him mighty men of valour three hundred thousand: ¹⁵and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him two hundred and fourscore thousand:
15. next to him] Literally at his hand; the same phrase is used in Nehemiah iii. 2, 4, 5, etc.