דברי הימים ב, פרק כ״ה, פסוק ה׳

King Amaziah of Judah prepares for a major military campaign by gathering and organizing his army, an event detailed much more extensively here than its brief mention in the Book of Kings [רלב״ג]. He arranged the soldiers methodically, organizing the forces according to their families. Each family was established as a separate and independent military unit, complete with its own appointed commanders over thousands and hundreds [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Once the troops were in formation, Amaziah conducted a thorough census to count the men [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The drafted soldiers were all capable military men, fully armed with spears and large shields [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The final count revealed a fighting force of three hundred thousand warriors.

This total reveals an astonishing and drastic decrease in the military strength of the Kingdom of Judah compared to previous generations. During the reign of King Asa, the army was twice as large, and in the days of King Jehoshaphat, the military was four times this size. This massive decline in available manpower is the direct reason Amaziah was forced to supplement his ranks by hiring one hundred thousand additional soldiers from the neighboring Kingdom of Israel [מלבי״ם].