2 Chronicles 14:12

12. The Lord smote the Ethiopians But not without the help of Asa and his Jewish and Benjamite forces. Jehovah inspired his people with faith and their enemies with terror, thus making the former doubly strong and the latter hopelessly weak and fearful.

“Egyptian monuments,” says R. Stuart Poole, “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. Asa, marching down a valley, must have attacked in a heavy column, for none but the most highly disciplined troops can form line from column in the face of an enemy. His spearmen of Judah would compose this column; each bank of the valley would be occupied by the Benjamite archers, like those who came to David, ‘helpers of the war, armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow.’ 2 Chronicles 12:1-2. No doubt the Ethiopian, confident in his numbers, disdained to attack the Hebrews, or clear the heights, but waited in the broad valley or the plain. From the account of Abijah’s defeat of Jeroboam, we may suppose that the priests sounded their trumpets, and the men of Judah descended with a shout. 2 Chronicles 13:14-15. The hills and mountains were the favourite camping places of the Hebrews, who usually rushed down upon their more numerous or better disciplined enemies in the plains and valleys.” SMITH’S Bible Dictionary.