Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Governor
Subjects in this Topic:
GOVERNOR.—This word represents various Heb. and Gr. words, technical and non-technical. In Gen_42:6 (Joseph, cf. 41:40) it is probably the Ta-te, the second after the king in the court of the palace; cf. 1Ki_18:3, Dan_2:48 for similar offices. It frequently represents an Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] word, pechah, used of Persian satraps in general (Est_3:12; Est_8:8), and of Assyrian generals (2Ki_18:24, cf. 1Ki_20:24). It is applied particularly to Tattenai, the governor of the large Persian province of which Judæa was a sub-district (Ezr_5:3; Ezr_6:6 etc., cf. Neh_2:7). It is also, like tirshatha (wh. see), applied to the subordinate governor of Judæa (Ezr_5:14 [Sheshbazzar] 6:7 [Nehemiah], Hag_1:1; Hag_1:14 [Zerubbabel]). The first passage shows that the subordinate pechah was directly appointed by the king.
In the NT the word usually represents Gr. hçgemôn, and is used of Pontius Pilate (Luk_3:1 etc.), of Felix (Act_23:26), and of Festus (Act_26:30). The proper title of these governors was ‘procurator’ (Tac. Ann. xv. 44), of which originally eparchos and then epitropos were the Gr. equivalents. Josephus, however, uses hçgemôn, as well as these words, for the governor of Judæa, so that there is no inaccuracy in its employment by NT writers. But, being a general word, it does not help us to decide the nature of the ‘governorship’ of Quirinius (Luk_2:2). The procurator, originally a financial official, was appointed directly by the Emperor to govern provinces, such as Thrace, Cappadocia, and Judæa, which were in a transitional state, being no longer ruled by subject kings, but not yet fully Romanized, and requiring special treatment. The procurator was in a sense subordinate to the legate of the neighbouring ‘province,’ e.g. Cappadocia to Galatia, Judæa to Syria; but except in emergencies he had full authority, military, judicial, and financial. In 1Pe_2:14 the word is specially appropriate to any provincial governor, as ‘sent’ by the Emperor. In 2Co_11:32 it represents ‘ethnarch,’ a word apparently used originally of the ruler of a nation (ethnos) living with laws of its own in a foreign community; but as applied to Aretas it may mean no more than petty king. In Gal_4:2 it means ‘steward’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), the ‘tutor’ controlling the ward’s person, the steward his property (Lightfoot, ad loc.). In Jam_3:4 RV [Note: Revised Version.] has ‘steersman.’ The ‘governor of the feast’ (Joh_2:8, RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘ruler’) was probably a guest, not a servant, chosen to control and arrange for the feast; It is doubtful whether he is to be identified with the ‘friend of the bridegroom’ or best man.
C. W. Emmet.