Magistrate (the representative in the Auth.Vers. of several Heb. and Gr. words, as below), a public civil officer invested with authority. Among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, the corresponding terms had a much wider signification than the term magistrate has with us. The Hebrew CIJSU, shophetim', or judges, were a kind of magistrates (Deut. i, 16, 17 ; Ezra vii, 25). See JtTJGE. The phrase in Judges xviii, 7, "And there was no magistrate in the land, that might put tliem lo shame in any thing," ought to be rendered, "And there were none to harm (Cbs) at all in the land; and they were jjossessed {^'\*\^, yoresh') of wealth." So, also, the terms "f'^?'"^! 'pUS'J, shaphetin' ve-dayanin', rendered " magistrates and judges" (Ezra vii, 25), would be better rendered "judges and rulers." The D^ISO, seganim', rendered "rulers," properly nobles, were Babylonian mag- istrates, prcefects of provinces (Jer. li, 23, 28, 57 ; Ezek. xxiii, 6). The same name was borne by the Jewish magistrates in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra ix, 2; Neh. ii, 16; iv, 14; xiii, 11). The word apx<*"'> archon, rendered magistrate (Luke xi, 58; Tit. iii, 1), properly signifies one first in poicer, authority ; hence "a prince' (Matt, xx, 25 ; 1 Cor. ii, 6, 8) ; " a ruler" (Acts iv, 26 ; Rom. xiii, 3). The term is also used of the ^Messiah as " the prince of the kings of the earth" (Rev. i, 5) ; and of Moses as the judge and leader of the Hebrews (Acts vii, 27, 35). It is spoken of magistratics of any Icind, e. g. the high-priest (Acts xxiii, 5) ; of civil judges (Luke xii, 58 ; Acts xvi, 19) ; also of a ruler of the synagogue (Luke viii, 4 1 ; Matt, ix, 18, 23 ; Mark v, 22) ; and of persons of weight and influence among the Pharisees and other sects at Jerusalem, who also were members of the San- hedrim (Luke xiv, 1 ; xviii, 18; xxiii, 13, 35; xxiv, 20; John iii, 1 : vii, 26, 48 ; xii, 42 ; Acts iii, 17 ; iv, 5, 8 ; xiii, 27 ; xiv, 5). The term is also used of Satan, the prince or chief of the fallen angels (Matt, ix, 34 ; xii, 24 ; Mark iii, 22 ; Luke xi, 15 ; John xii, 31 ; xiv, 30 ; xvi, 11 ; Eph. ii, 2). So likewise the kindred dpxri (Luke xii, 11 ; Tit. iii, 1). The word (TTpaTi]y6c, rendered "magistrate," properly signifies leader of an army, commander, general. So of the ten Athenian commanders, with whom the polemarcli was joined. Afterwards only one or two were sent abroad with the army, as circumstances required, and the others had charge of military affairs at home, i. q. icar-minister. In other Greek cities the rr-pci-TiyoQ was the chief magistrate, j^rcpfect. The term is also used of Roman officers, the consul and the prntor. In Roman colonies and municipal towns, the chief magis- trates were usually two in number, called duumviri: oc-
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casionally four or six, qiiatuorviri, seviri, who also were sometimes styltA pnetors, the same as the (ireek a-part]- yoi. Hence, in the New Testament, this term is used for the Roman duumviri, prcetors, magistrates of Philip- j)i, which was a Roman colony (Acts xvi, 20, 22, 35, 36, 3<s). The word i^ovaiai is also used collectively fur those invested with power, as in English we might say " the. powers" for rulers, magistrates (Luke xii, 11 ; Rom. xiii,2,3; Tit.iii,l). The "higher powers" (Rom. xiii,l) are " the ruling authorities" — the magistrates in office — all invested with civil power, from the emperor or king, as supreme, to the lowest civil officer — all who are em- ployed in making and executing the la^rs. The Roman emperor and some of the subordinate magistrates wore a small sword or dagger, the symbol of punishment, as a part of their official costume. See Governor.
In the earliest periods of Jewish history the magis- trates were the hereditary chieftains, but afterwards the judicial office became elective. In the time of Moses, the larger collections of families were fifty-niue in num- ber, and the heads of these families, together with the t\velve princes of the tribes, composed a comicil of sev- enty-one members; but the subdivisions afterwards were more numerous, and the number of heads of families greater, for we find no less than two hundred and fifty chiefs of this rank included in the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The D"^"!:?'":;, shoierim', or gen- ealogists, are mentioned in connection with the elders — that is, the princes of tribes and heads of families. See Officer. They kept the genealogical tables. Under Joshua, they communicated the orders of the general to the soldiers; and in the time of the Kings, the chief shoier had a certain control over the army, although he was not a military commander. The skoterim, who were superintended by this chief, were distributed into every city, and performed the duties of their office for it and the surrounding district. As they kept the gen- ealogical tables, they had an accurate list of the people, and were acquainted with the age. ability, and domestic circumstances of each individual; but they are not to be confounded with another officer who kept the muster- rolls, and whose name had a similar etymology. Moses added a new class of magistrates for the administration of justice, which, he informs us, was not of divine ap- pointment, l)ut was suggested by his father-in-law Je- thro. He divided the people into tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands, and placed wise and prudent judges over each of these divisions. They were selected, for the most part, from the heads of families, genealogists, or other people of rank (Exod. xviii, 13, 26). Difficult questions were brought before ]\Ioses himself, and, after his death, before the chief magistrate of the nation. These judges Moses included among the rulers, and Joshua summoned them to the general assemblies; and they are mentioned, in one instance, before the genealo- gists (Deut. xxxi, 28 ; Josh, viii, 33). When the magis- trates of all the cities belonging to any one tribe were collected, they formed the supreme court, or legislative assembly of the tribe ; and when the magistrates of all the trilx's wore convened together, they formed the gen- eral council of the nation, and could legislate conjointly for all (he tribes tliey represented. After the settlement in Canaan, although the chief magistrate of the Jewish state was, in reality, Jehovah, the invisible King, a su- preme ruler for the whole community coidd he legally chosen when the necessities of the state required it, who was denominated a judge, or governor. See .Jidge. In the bddk of Deuteronomy (xvii, 14, 15) we find .Je- hovah telling the Hebrews that if. when they arrived in the Promised Land, thev wished to have a king like the other nations round about them, they were to receive one whom he v.-ould appoint, and not a stranger. Josc- phus and others have correctly understood this passage not to mean that (Jod commanded the Israelites to de- sire a king when tliey were settled in Canaan, liut that, if they would have a king, he was to be ap]>ointcd liy God, and that he should invariablv be a Hebrew, and