Governor, a term used by the A. V. to denote va- rious degrees of authority and power : absolute and limited, acquired by birth or by election, military and civil. The numerous and mosth- vague original terms arc found in other passages translated by "ruler," "chief," "prince," "captain," etc.
1. ^'iii, naguV (Phcen. I'O, N'lJS ; Ar. najid ; Syr. nigida ; from "153, a verb only used in Hlph. and Hoph. in the signification of to tell). The original meaning of this root is to 7-ise, to become conspicuous, visible, to be in front (comp. 'iJi), prasto, vorstehen, to lead, to be first (compare Germ, /•'ih's/ = prince). The noun ""'^3, therefore, denotes a prominent personage, whatever his capacit}-, and is used of a chief or prjefect, "governor" of the royal palace, Azrikam (2 Chron. xxviii, 7; com- pare 1 Kings iv, G ; Isa. xxii, 15 ; oiKoi'Of^toc, chamber- lain, secretarj- of state), whose power (rVw*:":) seems to have been very considerable (compare Isa. xxii, 21 sq. " Shebnah ... a nail to the throne"), and who, it would appear, was distinguished from the other court (ilhcers bj' a particularly brilliant uniform (gir- dle and robe), and to whose insignia belonged a kej' Avorn over the shoulder. In a wider sense the word is applied to the chief of the Temple : Azariah, the high-priest, "ruler of the house of God" (1 Chron. ix, 11; comp. 2 Chron. xxxi, l.'i) ; Pashur, "chief gover- nor of the house of God" (Jer. xx, 1) ; further, to the "leader of the Aaronites," Jehoiadah (1 Chron. xii, 27). Again, it is used of the keeper of thn sacred treasury, " Shcbuel, ruler of the treasures" (1 Chron. xxvi, 24); of the chieftains of a tribe, "Zebadiah, the ruler of the house of Judah" (2 Chron. xix, 11) ; of the "captains" of the army (1 Chron. xiii, 1 ; 2 Chron. xxxii, 21); of the oldest son of the king, the heir-ap- parent, "Abijah, the son of JIaacliah [the chief], to l>e ruler among his lirethreu" (2 Chron. xi, 22). It is finally applied to the king himself: to Saul (A. Vers. "anoint him to be ca]itain," 1 Sam. ix, 1(5, etc.), to "^lessiah [the Anointed], thp Prince" (Dan. ix, 25, etc.). In the plural the word occurs in the more gen- eral sense of aristocracy, "Nobles" (Prov. viii, IG).
The Targum renders CrTii;S'Tl''j " their judges," hy ■'ni'T';;" ; and in the Talmud NT^^I is used para- bolically for "leader of a flock." "When the shep- herd is angry with his flock he gives it a blind leader" {Baba K. 52) — a corrupt generation to which God ap- points a bad king. How far tlie Talmudical use of "153, in the sense of " flagellate" {Pes. 52) and of "ex- tend" {Baba Mez. 74), may be connected with the no- tion of supremac}', reign, we cannot decide here.
2. X'i;3, nasi' (from N'w3, to carry, lift up; 1ft. raised, exalted, elected ; Sept. yyovfiivoc, aoxio]'), a word applied to the chiefs of the families of which a tribe was composed (Numb, iii, 24, £0, 32, 35; xvi, 2, etc. ; as many as 250 on one occasion, N umli. xvi, 2) ; and who, as deputies (commoners) at the National As- sembly, are also called Nasis of the congregation, or Nas:s of Israel (elected, called to the assembly). But it was also used of the twelve supreme chiefs of the tril)es themselves (Numb, ii, 3 sq. ; vii, 2 sq. ; iii, 32, etc.). Both these dignities, the chiefdom of a family as well as that of a tribe, Avould appear to have lieen elective — corresponding to the word X"^ t: — not hered- itary, as Michaelis and Winer hold. The Xad of Ju- dah, e. g. Nahshon ben-Aminadab, does not descend from the first line of the tribe (Numb, ii ; compare 1 Chron. ii, 9, 10). The Nasi of Issachar, again, is call- ed Nathaniel ben-Shuar, a name not found airong the eldest sons of this tribe (1 Chron. vii, 1-3). Finally, in the table of the Xasis — no doubt the chiefs of the tribes — to whom the division of the Promised Land was intrusted b}' Moses at his death, no son of the Xa- sis of the desert occurs (Munk, Palest, p. 194). Xi'^S is further employed for generals, under a head ("^"X"), 1 Clircin. vii, 40 ; of Abraham, a Xasi of God, a mightj' sheik; for non-Israelitish "princes:" of the !Midian- ites (Josh, xiii, 21), and of the llivites (Shechem) (Gen. xxxiv, 2). On the Maccaba?an coins Simeon is called " A^jfi of Israel." Nasi was also the official name of the president of the Sanhedrim (under whom stood the " father of the trilnmal, or vice-president"), whose seat was in the middle of the seventy-one mem- bers (Maim. Jad. Chaz. xiv, Syn. i).
3. T^pS, j5a/jjd'' (from 'IJTS, to (ippoint~), an ofjicrr, official, magistrate, applied to the ecclesiastical dele- gate of the high-pric.'t, who, together with the king's scribe, had to empty the chest containing the contri- bution to the Temple (2 Chron. xxiv, 11); to the Le vites (Nell, xi, 22); to the "chief" of the Ten. pie (Jer. XX, i, 2); to "officers in the house of the Lord" (Jer. xxix, 2G) ; to a military commander (2 Kings xxv, 19 ; Jer. liii, 25), and to his adjutant or principal man- ager (Judg. ix, £8\ Further, to the officers whom Joseph suggested that Pharaoh should put over Fpj'pt during the years of the famine (Gen. xli, 34) ; to those who were to gather all the virgins unto Shushan for Ahasuerus (Esth. ii, 3) ; to prajfects, "overseers," etc. (Neh. xi, 9 ; xii, 42) ; and, finalh", to the nobles or " princes" of the king (Jer. xx, 1 ; 2 Chron. xxxv, 8). .