2 Chronicles 12:3

2Ch 12:3 With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people [were] without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.

Ver. 3. The Lubims.] Or, Lybians. {Nah 3:9}

The Sukkiims.] Or, Scenites, such as dwelt in tents. The same are called Nomades and Troglodytes, of whom Mela {a} saith that they were Nullarum opum domini, strident potius quam loquunur, specus subeunt, alunturque serpentibus, beggarly, barbarous, savage people, all which made against the Jews, but for the fulfilling of God’s threatenings. {Deu 28:15-68}

{a} Lib. i.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 12:3. The Lubims — The people of Lybia, a famous country of Africa, adjoining to Egypt. And the Sukkiims were the Troglodytes, a people who lived on the western side of the Red sea, and had that name from their dwelling in dens and caves of the earth, which is also the meaning of the Hebrew word סכיים, succhiim, here used. As for the people called Cush, which we translate Ethiopians, they were either those to the south of Egypt, or the Scenitæ in Arabia.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:3 Sukkites are not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible but are known from Egyptian history as Libyans from the oases of the western desert. • and Ethiopians: Shishak was an Ethiopian from southern Egypt.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which were a people of Africa called the Troglodytes because they dwelled in holes.

Or, black Moores.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the Lubims--the Libyans of northeastern Africa.

the Sukkiims--Some think these were the Kenite Arabs, dwellers in tents, but others maintain more justly that these were Arab troglodytes, who inhabited the caverns of a mountain range on the western coast of the Red Sea.

and the Ethiopians--from the regions south of Egypt. By the overwhelming force of numbers, they took the fortresses of Judah which had been recently put in a state of defense, and marched to lay siege to the capital. While Shishak and his army was before Jerusalem, the prophet Shemaiah addressed Rehoboam and the princes, tracing this calamity to the national apostasy and threatening them with utter destruction in consequence of having forsaken God (Ch2 12:6).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. The Lubims] Supposed to be a people of Libya, adjoining to Egypt; sometimes called Phut in Scripture, as the people are called Lehabim and Ludim.

The Sukkiims] The Troglodytes, a people of Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea. They were called Troglodytes, Τρωγλοδυται, οἱ τας τρωγλας οικουντες, "because they dwelt in caves." - Hesych. This agrees with what Pliny says of them, Troglodytae specus excavant, haec illis domus; "The Troglodytes dig themselves caves; and these serve them for houses." This is not very different from the import of the original name סכיים Sukkiyim, from סכה sachah, to cover or overspread; (hence סוך such, a tabernacle;) the people who were covered (emphatically) under the earth. The Septuagint translate by the word Τρωγλοδυται, Troglodytes.

The Ethiopians.] כושים Cushim. Various people were called by this name, particularly a people bordering on the northern coast of the Red Sea; but these are supposed to have come from a country of that name on the south of Egypt.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) With twelve hundred chariots.—The short account in Kings says nothing of the numbers or constituents of the invading host. The totals here assigned are probably round numbers founded on a rough estimate. The cavalry are exactly fifty times as many as the chariots. Thenius finds the numbers “not in credible.”

The Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethi-opians.—Rather, Lybians, Sukkîyans, and Cushites (without the definite article). These were “the people”—i.e., the footmen. The Lybians and Cushites are mentioned together as auxiliaries of Egypt in Nah_3:9. (Comp. 2Ch_16:8.) The Sukkîyans are unknown, but the LXX. and Vulg. render Troglodytes, or cave-dwellers, meaning, it would seem, the Ethiopian Troglodytes of the mountains on the western shore of the Arabian Gulf. (Comp. sukkô, “his lair,” Psa_10:9.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. with twelve hundred chariots] The details given in this verse are absent from 1 Kin.

Lubims] R.V. Lubim (cp. 2Ch_16:8). The “s” is not needed, “im” being a mark of the Heb. plural as in “Cherubim” and “Seraphim.” The Lubim are no doubt the Libyans.

Sukkiims] R.V. Sukkiim. LXX. Τρωγλοδύται, i.e. the cave dwellers of the mountains which fringe the west coast of the Red Sea. But whether these are really meant here is doubtful.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen; and the people were without number,.... The foot soldiers; their number, according to Josephus (h) was 400,000:

that came with him out of Egypt; the above numerous army came from thence with him, which was famous for horses and chariots of war, see Exo 14:7, what follow seem to have joined him after he came out of Egypt, or whom he subdued in his way; the Lubim or Lybians, inhabitants of Libya, a country near Egypt the same with the Lehabim; of whom see Gen 10:13,

the Sukkiims; who were either the Scenite Arabs, who dwelt in tents, as this word signifies; or the Troglodytes, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, who dwelt in dens and caves, in which sense the word "Succah" is sometimes used, Job 38:40 and in their country was a town called Suchae, mentioned by Pliny (i); they inhabited near the Red sea; and if Shishak is the same with Sesostris, as is thought, these people were subdued by him, as Herodotus (k) and Strabo (l) testify:

and the Ethiopians; some think these were the Cushite Arabs, and that Sesostris came into Arabia is testified by the above writers; though rather the proper Ethiopians are meant, since they are joined with the Lubim or Africans; and since, as Herodotus (m) says, he ruled over Ethiopia; and Diodorus Siculus (n) says he fought with them, and obliged them to pay him tribute.

(h) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 10. sect. 2. (i) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29. (k) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 102. (l) Geograph. l. 16. p. 529. (m) Ut supra, (Euterpe, sive, l. 2.) c. 110. (n) Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 50.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

twelve hundred chariots - This number is not unusnal (compare Exo 14:7; 1Ki 10:26). Benhadad brought 1,200 chariots into the field against Shalmaneser II; and Ahabhad at the same time a force of 2,000 chariots (compare the 1Ki 20:1 note).

The Lubims or “Libyans” Dan 11:43, were a people of Africa, distinct from the Egyptians and the Ethiopians dwelling in their immediate neighborhood. They were called Ribu or Libu by the Egyptians. See Gen 10:13.

Sukkiims - This name does not occur elsewhere. The Septuagint, who rendered the word “Troglodytes,” regarded the Sukkiim probably as the “cave-dwellers” along the western shore of the Red Sea; but the conjecture that the word means “tent-dwellers” is plausible, and would point rather to a tribe of Arahs (Scenitae).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Troglodites, who dwell in caverns, near the Red Sea. Pliny ([Natural History?] v. 8., and vi. 29.) speaks of the city Suca, which in Hebrew means a tent, as here we read succiyim, (Haydock) "dwelling in tents;" which some explain of the Arabs, who are called Scenites, on the same account. (Tirinus) --- People of this description, without any fixed abode, inhabited the Stony as well as the Desert Arabia, chap. xiv. 14.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Lubims; a people of Africa bordering upon Egypt; of whom See Poole "2Ch 16:8"; See Poole "Dan 11:43"; See Poole "Nah 3:9".

The Sukkiims; a people living in tents, as the word signifies; and such there were not far from Egypt, both in Africa and in Arabia.

The Ethiopians; either those beyond Egypt, or the Arabians.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. The Lubim — Libyans, Dan_11:43; probably identical with the Lehabim of Gen_10:13. They were an African nation, apparently under Egyptian rule, and are repeatedly mentioned in connexion with the Egyptians and Ethiopians. Compare 1Ch_16:8; Nah_3:9. They peopled the African coast along the Mediterranean, west of Egypt.

The Sukkiim — “This name does not occur elsewhere. The Seventy, who rendered the word by ‘Troglodytes,’ regarded the Sukkiim probably as the ‘cave-dwellers’ along the western shore of the Red Sea, who are mentioned by Strabo and others; but the conjecture of Gesenius, that the word means ‘tent dwellers,’ is plausible, and would point rather to a tribe of Arabs.” — Rawlinson. The Ethiopians inhabited the country south of Egypt, which was watered by the Upper Nile. Compare 2Ki_19:9; Est_1:1.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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. (2Ch_16:8; Nah_3:9; Dan_11:43; Jer_46:9; Eze_38:5) Sukkiims. Probably an Arab tribe, though the Septuagint Version gives Trwgodutai, as though taking them for Troglodytes in the hills west of the Red Sea; so, too, the Vulgate.

Gesenius at once renders the 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 2Ch_21:16, Ethiopians are classed with Arabians, but otherwise with African peoples, and in particular (Psa_68:31; Isa_20:3, 4 43:3 45:14; Jer_46:9; Eze_30:5 Eze_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.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lubims - A people of Africk bordering upon Egypt. Sukkiims - A people living in tents, as the word signifies; and such there were not far from Egypt, both in Africk and in Arabia. Ethiopians - Either those beyond Egypt, or the Arabians.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.