Captain

Captain in the Old Testament renders several Hebrew terms designating military or civic leaders of varying rank and responsibility. The sar (prince or commander) was a senior military officer commanding hundreds or thousands of troops (1 Samuel 22:2; 2 Samuel 23:19). Special note attaches to the "captain of the host," the supreme military commander. In the New Testament the chief captain (chiliarchos, commander of a thousand) was the Roman military tribune; it was such an officer, Lysias, who rescued Paul from the Jerusalem mob (Acts 21:31–40) and later sent him to Caesarea. In Joshua 5:14–15, the mysterious "commander of the army of the Lord" encountered by Joshua near Jericho is generally interpreted as a Christophany or angelic warrior of divine rank.