Captain
Captain -
(1.) Hebrew: sar (1 Sam. 22:2; 2 Sam. 23:19). Rendered "chief," Gen. 40:2; 41:9; rendered also "prince," Dan. 1:7; "ruler," Judg. 9:30; "governor,' 1 Kings 22:26. This same Hebrew word denotes a military captain (Ex. 18:21; 2 Kings 1:9; Deut. 1:15; 1 Sam. 18:13, etc.), the "captain of the body-guard" (Gen. 37:36; 39:1; 41:10; Jer. 40:1), or, as the word may be rendered, "chief of the executioners" (marg.). The officers of the king's body-guard frequently acted as executioners. Nebuzar-adan (Jer. 39:13) and Arioch (Dan. 2:14) held this office in Babylon.
The "captain of the guard" mentioned in Acts 28:16 was the Praetorianprefect, the commander of the Praetorian troops.
(2.) Another word (Hebrew: katsin) so translated denotes sometimes a military (Josh. 10:24; Judg. 11:6, 11; Isa. 22:3 "rulers;" Dan. 11:18) and sometimes a civil command, a judge, magistrate, Arab. kady, (Isa. 1:10; 3:6; Micah 3:1, 9).
(3.) It is also the rendering of a Hebrew word (shalish) meaning "a third man," or "one of three." The Septuagint renders in plural by tristatai; i.e., "soldiers fighting from chariots," so called because each war-chariot contained three men, one of whom acted as charioteer while the other two fought (Ex. 14:7; 15:4; 1 Kings 9:22; comp. 2 Kings 9:11; 2 Chr. 31:13; Neh. 11:11.)
(5.) The Captain of our salvation is a name given to our Lord (Heb. 2:10), because he is the author and source of our salvation, the head of his people, whom he is conducting to glory. The "captain of the Lord's host" (Josh. 5:14, 15) is the name given to that mysterious person who manifested himself to Abraham (Gen. 12:7), and to Moses in the bush (Ex. 3:2, 6, etc.) the Angel of the covenant. (See ANGEL .)
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