Commenting on 2 Kgs 1:9, Cogan and Tadmor wrote that:
an officer of fifty and his company of fifty. Fifty men comprise a
military unit, headed by an officer (śar);
cf. 1 Sam 8:12; 2 Kgs 15:25; Isa 3:3. In contemporary Mesopotamian armies, a
similar unit was led by a rab ḫanšê,
“officer/captain of fifty,” cf. CAD Ḫ
81. (Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings: A New
Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 11; New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2008], 26)
Here is the relevant quotation from the CAD series:
ḥanšā in rab-ḥanšû
s.; commander of a contingent of 50 soldiers; NA, NB; wr. (LÚ).GAL.50 and
LÚ.GAL.50-ú (VAS 6 93: 5 and 6); cf. hamiš.
(a) in NA: LÚ.GAL.50-ia šu ša LÚ
Gurraja URU Meturnaja my commander-of-fifty of (the contingent composed of)
Gurraeans and (the inhabitants) of the town Meturna ABL 251:4; LÚ.GAL.50 ḥanniu
issi ṣābēšu this commander-of-fifty with his soldiers ibid. 15, and passim in
this letter; PN LÚ.GAL.5[0] KAV 31:1 and 32:1 (referring to a contingent of chariots),
also KAV 189 r. 6, ADD 233 r. 15 and 328 r. 6; PN GAL.50 ADD 197:4 and r. 3.
(b) in NB: LÚ.GAL.50.MEŠ ina pānikunu ṣābē mūtātu abkātu u ḫalqītu šullimšunnûtu replace the losses of dead, captured and missing soldiers (in the contingents) to the commanders-of-fifty who are under your authority RA 11 166 r. 9, let.; mīnamma kurmāti u šipāti ša la PN u PN₂ LÚ.GAL.50-ú ana LÚ. GAL.10-ti MEŠ taddin why did you give provisions and wool to the decurions without the permission of PN and of PN₂, the commander-of-fifty YOS 3 103:9, let.; LÚ GAL. 50.MEŠ ša pāni RN commanders-of-fifty who are under Merodachbaladan, king of Babylon AnOr 9 1:1, cf. naphar 91 LÚ.GAL.50.MEŠ ibid. 96, also BIN 1 40:30 (referring to work to be performed), TuM 2–3 212:4 (collection of ilku-tax). (The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, ed. A. Leo Oppenheim, 21 vols. [Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1956]: 6:81)
