2 Chronicles 12:3 - Exposition

Twelve hundred chariots . The parallel does not give the numbers. These are large, but not inconsistent with those mentioned in other connections, whether those of Solomon, or, going further back, of Pharaoh. Lubims . The letter s is orthographically redundant in this, as also in the following names, the forms being already plural. The Lubim mean the Libyans, west of Egypt. They are probably the people represented on the Egyptian monuments as Lebu, of Semitic type, subjugated by Egypt's kings in the thirteenth century B.C. They were among the oldest of colonists, that drifted along the coast of Africa, north of the Great Desert, from the East, and are perhaps the same as the Lehabim ( Genesis 10:13 ; 2 Chronicles 16:8 ; Nahum 3:9 ; Daniel 11:43 ; Jeremiah 46:9 ; Ezekiel 38:5 ). Sukkiims . Probably an Arab tribe, though the Septuagint Version gives τρωγοδύται , as though taking them for Troglodytes in the hills west of the Red Sea; so, too, the Vulgate. Gesenius at once renders the סֻכִּיִּים tent-dwellers, and sets the people in question down for some African tribe. They are not mentioned elsewhere so as to be recognized. Ethiopians . These were ethnically Cushites, but the territorial application of the term was confined to the African Cushite settlers. It is remarkable that, in 2 Chronicles 21:16 , Ethiopians are classed with Arabians, but otherwise with African peoples, and in particular Egypt ( Psalms 68:31 ; Isaiah 20:3 , Isaiah 20:4 ; Isaiah 43:3 ; Isaiah 45:14 ; Jeremiah 46:9 ; Ezekiel 30:5 ; Ezekiel 38:5 ). They were many-tribed, and the Sabaeans were a leading tribe of them. It is evident that Shishak could draw from a large and varied dominion subject to his dynasty at this time.