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Captain (1.) Heb. sar (Sa1 22:2; Sa2 23:19). Rendered "chief," Gen 40:2; Gen 41:9; rendered also "prince," Dan 1:7; "ruler," Jdg 9:30; "governor," Kg1 22:26. This same Hebrew word denotes a military captain (Exo 18:21; Kg2 1:9; Deu 1:15; Sa1 18:13, etc.), the "captain of the body-guard" (Gen 37:36; Gen 39:1; Gen 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 Act 28:16 was the Praetorian prefect, the commander of the Praetorian troops. (2.) Another word (Heb. katsin ) so translated denotes sometimes a military (Jos 10:24; Jdg 11:6, Jdg 11:11; Isa 22:3 "rulers;" Dan 11:18) and sometimes a civil command, a judge, magistrate, Arab. kady , (Isa 1:10; Isa 3:6; Mic 3:1, Mic 3:9). (3.) It is also the rendering of a Hebrew word ( shalish ) meaning "a third man," or "one of three." The LXX. render 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 (Exo 14:7; Exo 15:4; Kg1 9:22; compare Kg2 9:25). This word is used also to denote the king's body-guard (Kg2 10:25; Ch1 12:18; Ch2 11:11) or aides-de-camp. (4.) The "captain of the temple" mentioned in Act 4:1; Act 5:24 was not a military officer, but superintendent of the guard of priests and Levites who kept watch in the temple by night. (Compare "the ruler of the house of God," Ch1 9:11; Ch2 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" (Jos 5:14, Jos 5:15) is the name given to that mysterious person who manifested himself to Abraham (Gen 12:7), and to Moses in the bush (Exo 3:2, Exo 3:6, etc.) the Angel of the covenant. (See ANGEL.)

Captive One taken in war. Captives were often treated with great cruelty and indignity (Kg1 20:32; Jos 10:24; Jdg 1:7; Sa2 4:12; Jdg 8:7; Sa2 12:31; Ch1 20:3). When a city was taken by assault, all the men were slain, and the women and children carried away captive and sold as slaves (Isa 20:1; Isa 47:3; Ch2 28:9; Psa 44:12; Joe 3:3), and exposed to the most cruel treatment (Nah 3:10; Zac 14:2; Est 3:13; Kg2 8:12; Isa 13:16, Isa 13:18). Captives were sometimes carried away into foreign countries, as was the case with the Jews (Jer 20:5; Jer 39:9, Jer 39:10; Jer 40:7).

Captivity (1.) Of Israel. The kingdom of the ten tribes was successively invaded by several Assyrian kings. Pul (q.v.) imposed a tribute on Menahem of a thousand talents of silver (Kg2 15:19, Kg2 15:20; Ch1 5:26) (762 B.C.), and Tiglath-pileser, in the days of Pekah (738 B.C.), carried away the trans-Jordanic tribes and the inhabitants of Galilee into Assyria (Kg2 15:29; Isa 9:1). Subsequently Shalmaneser invaded Israel and laid siege to Samaria, the capital of the kingdom. During the siege he died, and was succeeded by Sargon, who took the city, and transported the great mass of the people into Assyria (721 B.C.), placing them in Halah and in Habor, and in the cities of the Medes (Kg2 17:3, Kg2 17:5). Samaria was never again inhabited by the Israelites. The families thus removed were carried to distant cities, many of them not far from the Caspian Sea, and their place was supplied by colonists from Babylon and Cuthah, etc. (Kg2 17:24). Thus terminated the kingdom of the ten tribes, after a separate duration of two hundred and fifty-five years (975-721 B.C.). Many speculations have been indulged in with reference to these ten tribes. But we believe that all, except the number that probably allied themselves with Judah and shared in their restoration under Cyrus, are finally lost. "Like the dew on the mountain, Like the foam on the river, Like the bubble on the fountain, They are gone, and for ever." (2.) Of Judah. In the third year of Jehoiachim, the eighteenth king of Judah (605 B.C.), Nebuchadnezzar having overcome the Egyptians at Carchemish, advanced to Jerusalem with a great army. After a brief siege he took that city, and carried away the vessels of the sanctuary to Babylon, and dedicated them in the Temple of Belus (Kg2 24:1; Ch2 36:6, Ch2 36:7; Dan 1:1, Dan 1:2). He also carried away the treasures of the king, whom he made his vassal. At this time, from which is dated the "seventy years" of captivity (Jer. 25; Dan 9:1, Dan 9:2), Daniel and his companions were carried to Babylon, there to be brought up at the court and trained in all the learning of the Chaldeans. After this, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, a great national fast was appointed (Jer 36:9), during which the king, to show his defiance, cut up the leaves of the book of Jeremiah's prophecies as they were read to him in his winter palace, and threw them into the fire. In the same spirit he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (Kg2 24:1), who again a second time (598 B.C.) marched against Jerusalem, and put Jehoiachim to death, placing his son Jehoiachin on the throne in his stead. But Jehoiachin's counsellors displeasing Nebuchadnezzar, he again a third time turned his army against Jerusalem, and carried away to Babylon a second detachment of Jews as captives, to the number of 10,000 (Kg2 24:13; Jer 24:1; Ch2 36:10), among whom were the king, with his mother and all his princes and officers, also Ezekiel, who with many of his companions were settled on the banks of the river Chebar (q.v.). He also carried away all the remaining treasures of the temple and the palace, and the golden vessels of the sanctuary. Mattaniah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, was now made king over what remained of the kingdom of Judah, under the name of Zedekiah (Kg2 24:17; Ch2 36:10). After a troubled reign of eleven years his kingdom came to an end (Ch2 36:11). Nebuchadnezzar, with a powerful army, besieged Jerusalem, and Zedekiah became a prisoner in Babylon. His eyes were put out, and he was kept in close confinement till his death (Kg2 25:7). The city was spoiled of all that was of value, and then given up to the flames. The temple and palaces were consumed, and the walls of the city were levelled with the ground (586 B.C.), and all that remained of the people, except a number of the poorest class who were left to till the ground and dress the vineyards, were carried away captives to Babylon. This was the third and last deportation of Jewish captives. The land was now utterly desolate, and was abondoned to anarchy. In the first year of his reign as king of Babylon (536 B.C.), Cyrus issued a decree liberating the Jewish captives, and permitting them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and the temple (Ch2 36:22, Ch2 36:23; Ezr 1:1; 2). The number of the people forming the first caravan, under Zerubbabel, amounted in all to 42,360 (Ezr 2:64, Ezr 2:65), besides 7,337 men-servants and maid-servants. A considerable number, 12,000 probably, from the ten tribes who had been carried away into Assyria no doubt combined with this band of liberated captives. At a later period other bands of the Jews returned (1) under Ezra (Ezr 7:7) (458 B.C.), and (2) Nehemiah (Neh 7:66) (445 B.C.). But the great mass of the people remained still in the land to which they had been carried, and became a portion of the Jews of the "dispersion" (Joh 7:35; Pe1 1:1). The whole number of the exiles that chose to remain was probably about six times the number of those who returned.

Carbuncle (Exo 28:17; Exo 39:10; Eze 28:13). Heb. barkath ; LXX. smaragdos ; Vulgate, smaragdus ; Revised Version, marg., " emerald ." The Hebrew word is from a root meaning "to glitter," "lighten," "flash." When held up to the sun, this gem shines like a burning coal, a dark-red glowing coal, and hence is called "carbunculus", i.e., a little coal. It was one of the jewels in the first row of the high priest's breastplate. It has been conjectured by some that the garnet is meant. In Isa 54:12 the Hebrew word is 'ekdah , used in the prophetic description of the glory and beauty of the mansions above. Next to the diamond it is the hardest and most costly of all precious stones.

Carcase Contact with a, made an Israelite ceremonially unclean, and made whatever he touched also unclean, according to the Mosaic law (Hag 2:13; compare Num 19:16, Num 19:22; Lev 11:39).

Carchemish Fortress of Chemosh, a city on the west bank of the Euphrates (Jer 46:2; Ch2 35:20), not, as was once supposed, the Circesium at the confluence of the Chebar and the Euphrates, but a city considerably higher up the river, and commanding the ordinary passage of the Euphrates; probably identical with Hierapolis. It was the capital of the kingdom of the northern Hittites. The Babylonian army, under Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, here met and conquered the army of Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt (607 B.C.). It is mentioned in monuments in 1600 B.C. and down to 717 B.C..

Carmel A park; generally with the article, "the park." (1.) A prominent headland of Central Palestine, consisting of several connected hills extending from the plain of Esdraelon to the sea, a distance of some 12 miles or more. At the east end, in its highest part, it is 1,728 feet high, and at the west end it forms a promontory to the bay of Acre about 600 feet above the sea. It lay within the tribe of Asher. It was here, at the east end of the ridge, at a place called el-Mukhrakah (i.e., the place of burning), that Elijah brought back the people to their allegiance to God, and slew the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). Here were consumed the "fifties" of the royal guard; and here also Elisha received the visit of the bereaved mother whose son was restored by him to life (Kg2 4:25). "No mountain in or around Palestine retains its ancient beauty so much as Carmel. Two or three villages and some scattered cottages are found on it; its groves are few but luxuriant; it is no place for crags and precipices or rocks of wild goats; but its surface is covered with a rich and constant verdure." "The whole mountain-side is dressed with blossom, and flowering shrubs, and fragrant herbs." The western extremity of the ridge is, however, more rocky and bleak than the eastern. The head of the bride in Sol 7:5 is compared to Carmel. It is ranked with Bashan on account of its rich pastures (Isa 33:9; Jer 50:19; Amo 1:2). The whole ridge is deeply furrowed with rocky ravines filled with dense jungle. There are many caves in its sides, which at one time were inhabited by swarms of monks. These caves are referred to in Amo 9:3. To them Elijah and Elisha often resorted (Kg1 18:19, Kg1 18:42; Kg2 2:25). On its north-west summit there is an ancient establishment of Carmelite monks. Vineyards have recently been planted on the mount by the German colonists of Haifa. The modern Arabic name of the mount is Kurmul , but more commonly Jebel Mar Elyas, i.e., Mount St. Elias, from the Convent of Elias. (2.) A town in the hill country of Judah (Jos 15:55), the residence of Nabal (Sa1 25:2, Sa1 25:5, Sa1 25:7, Sa1 25:40), and the native place of Abigail, who became David's wife (Sa1 27:3). Here king Uzziah had his vineyards (Ch2 26:10). The ruins of this town still remain under the name of Kurmul, about 10 miles south-south-east of Hebron, close to those of Maon.

Carmi Vine-dresser. (1.) The last named of the four sons of Reuben (Gen 46:9). (2.) A descendant of Judah (Ch1 4:1). He is elsewhere (Ch1 2:18) called Caleb (q.v.). (3.) The son of Zimri, and the father of Achan (Jos 7:1), "the troubler of Israel."

Carnal Unconverted men are so called (Co1 3:3). They are represented as of a "carnal mind, which is enmity against God" (Rom 8:6, Rom 8:7). Enjoyments that minister to the wants and desires of man's animal nature are so called (Rom 15:27; Co1 9:11). The ceremonial of the Mosaic law is spoken of as "carnal," because it related to things outward, the bodies of men and of animals, and the purification of the flesh (Heb 7:16; Heb 9:10). The weapons of Christian warfare are "not carnal", that is, they are not of man's device, nor are wielded by human power (Co2 10:4).

Carpenter An artificer in stone, iron, and copper, as well as in wood (Sa2 5:11; Ch1 14:1; Mar 6:3). The tools used by carpenters are mentioned in Sa1 13:19, Sa1 13:20; Jdg 4:21; Isa 10:15; Isa 44:13. It was said of our Lord, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Mat 13:55); also, "Is not this the carpenter?" (Mar 6:3). Every Jew, even the rabbis, learned some handicraft: Paul was a tentmaker. "In the cities the carpenters would be Greeks, and skilled workmen; the carpenter of a provincial village could only have held a very humble position, and secured a very moderate competence."