Orator
Orator 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" (נבוֹן לִחִשׁ, Sept. συνετὸς ἀκροατής; Vulg. and Symm. prudens eloquii mystici; Aquila, συνετὸς ψιθυρισμῷ; Theodot. συνετὸς ἐπωδῇ), Isa 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. Ps 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 (Ac 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 Ac 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.
