and with him Lysias his guardian and chancellor, each having a Greek force of one hundred ten thousand infantry, five thousand three hundred cavalry, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 2. A hundred and ten thousand, and so forth The difference between the numbers here set down and those recorded 1 Maccabees 4 is easily accounted for, if we consider that such armies as these are liable to be at one time more numerous that at another, either by sending away large detachments, or being diminished by sickness, or increased by receiving fresh supplies of troops, according to different exigencies or occurrences. Challoner.—There are many such difficulties in the Books of Kings, and so forth Only some of the troops were permanent. Worthington.—Most were auxiliaries, so that the number might often vary. Nothing is said of the chariots. 1 B. 6:30.