71. Captain of the Guard

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Genesis 37:3636And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:36). The Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard.
Literally, “captain of the executioners.” He was responsible for the safekeeping of state prisoners, and for the execution of sentence upon them. In cases of treason he sometimes executed the sentence himself. He was the official guardian of the person of the king—the chief of his bodyguard.
The king of Babylon had a similar officer in his service. See 2 Kings 25:88And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: (2 Kings 25:8); Jeremiah 39:1313So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the king of Babylon's princes; (Jeremiah 39:13); Daniel 2:1414Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: (Daniel 2:14). In the ruins of the hall of judgment of the palace at Khorsabad, Assyria, there is on the wall a representation of a naked man with limbs stretched out, and arms and ankles fastened to the floor or table, while a tall, bearded man is in the act of flaying him alive. This is supposed to be “the chief of the executioners” engaged at his horrid work; and some commentators interpret the expression “cut in pieces,” in Daniel 3:2929Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. (Daniel 3:29), to refer to this act of flaying alive. See also Micah 3:33Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. (Micah 3:3).