ZERAH (nnt, a rising ; Sept. Zapd). 1. Son of Judah and Tamar, and younger but twin brother of Pharez (Gen. xxxviii. 3o ; Matt. i. 3). Geddes, in his Critical Remarks (pp. x26, 127), has some interesting medical testimony in illustration of the remarkable circumstances attending the birth of the twins.
2. Son of Reuel and grandson of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 13, 17).
3. Son of Simeon and founder of a family in Israel (Num. xxvi. 13). He is called Zohar in Gen. xlvi. to : his descendants are called Zarhites in Num. xocvi. 13, 20.
4. The Cushite king or leader who invaded Judah in the tenth year of king Asa (Lc. 941), with an army of a thousand thousands ' (i e very many thousands) of men, and three hundred cha riots. Asa defeated them in the valley of Zepha thah at Mareshah, utterly routed them, pursued them to Gerar and carried back much plunder from that neighbourhood. We are left uncertain as to the country from which Zerah came. The term Cushite or Ethiopian may imply that he was of Arabian Cush ; the principal objection to which is, that history affords no indication that Arabia had at that epoch, or from its system of govern ment could_ well have, any king so powerful as Zemh. That he was of Abyssinia or African Ethi opia is another conjecture, which is resisted by the difficulty of seeing how this huge host ' could have obtained a passage through Egypt, as it must have done to reach Judxa. If we could suppose, with
Champollion (Fritz's, p. 257), whom Coquerel fol lows (Biog. Sacr. s.v.), that Zerah the Cushite was the then king of Egypt, of an Ethiopian dynasty, this difficulty would be satisfactorily met. In fact it is now often stated that he was the same with Osorkon I. (of whom there is a statue in the British Museum, No. S), the son and successor of the Shishak who invaded Judma twenty-five years before, in the time of Rehoboam. This is a tempt ing explanation, but cannot be received without , question, and it is not deemed satisfactory by Ro- I sellini, Wilkinson, Sharpe, and others. Jahn hazards an ingenious conjecture, that Zerah Was king of Cush on both sides of the Red Sea—that is, of both the Arabian and African Ethiopia ; and thus provides him a sufficient power without sub jecting him to the necessity of passing through Egypt. This also is not without serious difficulties. In fact, no conclusion that can be relied upon has yet been exhibited.—J. K.