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Bible Encyclopedias
Orator
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or the rendering in the A. V. of one Hebrew and one Greek word.
1. It stands for lachash. a whisper, or "incantation," joined with nebon, "skillful" (נְבוֹן לִחִשׁ, Sept. συνετὸς ἀκροατής; Vulg. and Symm. prudens eloquii mystici; Aquila, συνετὸς ψιθυρισμῷ; Theodot. συνετὸς ἐπωδῇ ), Isaiah 3:3, A. V. "eloquent orator," marg. "skillful of speech." The phrase appears to refer to pretended skill in magic (see Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 202, 754; comp. Psalms 58:5). (See DIVINATION).
2. It stands for ῥήτωρ , the title applied to Tertullus (q.v.), who appeared as the advocate or patronus of the Jewish accusers of the apostle Paul before Felix (Acts 24:1). The Latin language was used, and Roman forms observed in provincial judicial proceedings, as, to cite an obviously parallel case, Norman-French was for so many ages the language of English law proceedings. The trial of Paul at Caesarea was distinctly one of a Roman citizen; and thus the advocate spoke as a Roman lawyer, and probably in the Latin language (see Acts 25:9-10; comp. Val. Max. 2:2, 2; Cicero, Pro Coelio, c. 30; Brutus, c. 37, 38,41, where the qualifications of an advocate are described; see Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 1:3; 2:348). (See ADVOCATE).