Magistrate

A public civil officer invested with authority. The Hebrew "shophetim, or judges, were magistrates having authority in the" "land (Deut. 1:16, 17). In Judg. 18:7 the word "magistrate" "(A.V.) is rendered in the Revised Version "possessing" "authority", i.e., having power to do them harm by invasion. In" the time of Ezra (9:2) and Nehemiah (2:16; 4:14; 13:11) the "Jewish magistrates were called seganim, properly meaning" "nobles. In the New Testament the Greek word archon, rendered" "magistrate (Luke 12:58; Titus 3:1), means one first in power," "and hence a prince, as in Matt. 20:25, 1 Cor. 2:6, 8. This term" "is used of the Messiah, "Prince of the kings of the earth" (Rev." "1:5). In Acts 16:20, 22, 35, 36, 38, the Greek term strategos," "rendered "magistrate," properly signifies the leader of an army," "a general, one having military authority. The strategoi were the" "duumviri, the two praetors appointed to preside over the" administration of justice in the colonies of the Romans. They "were attended by the sergeants (properly lictors or "rod" "bearers")."