LYSIAS lĭs’ ĭ ăs (Λυσίας, G3385). 1. A prominent Syrian general and official who served under Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Antiochus V Eupator. He is given considerable attention in 1 and 2 Maccabees and in Jos. Antiq. (See, e.g., 1 Macc 3:32-38; 6:17; 7:1-4; 2 Macc 10; 11; and Jos. Antiq. xii: 295-298, 313-315, 361, 367.)

2. Claudius Lysias. The “chief captain,” chiliarch, or military tribune over Rom. forces in Jerusalem at the time when Paul made the visit to the city which is mentioned in Acts 21-23. On that occasion, when Paul’s life was threatened by a mob, Lysias had the apostle bound and carried to the castle or fortress of Antonia, and permitted him to speak to the people from the stairs. When Lysias commanded that Paul be examined by scourging that he might know why the Jews made such an outcry against him, he was deterred from his purpose by Paul’s claim to Rom. citizenship. He himself had obtained freedom “with a great sum”—his name Lysias indicates his Gr. background—but Paul could lay claim to having been freeborn (Acts 22:27, 28). His subsequent treatment of the apostle was naturally influenced and conditioned by Paul’s Rom. citizenship.

To know the certainty or real reason why Paul was accused by the Jews, Lysias set Paul, loosed from his bonds, before the chief priests and all the council. When a great dissension arose among the Jewish leaders, Lysias, fearing lest Paul be torn to pieces, had him brought into the castle. Informed by Paul’s sister’s son of a conspiracy against Paul’s life, he sent him swiftly with a military escort to Felix the governor in Caesarea. He sent a letter to Felix in which he spoke of his rescuing Paul from the Jews and declared that Paul had been charged with nothing worthy of death or of bonds. In God’s providence Lysias was an important instrument in sparing Paul and in contributing to the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that as Paul had testified about Him in Jerusalem, so he must bear witness also at Rome (Acts 23:11).