SAGAN.1 The Hebrews thus call the Vicar or Deputy of the High-priest, who supply’d his Office, and who perform’d the Functions of it in the Absence of the High-priest, or when any Accident happen’d to him, that put him out of a Condition to officiate in Person; of which we have some Examples in the History of Josephus. The2 Jews think the Office of this Sagan to be very antient among them. They hold that Moses was Sagan to Aaron. I do not find the Word Sagan in this Sense in Scripture, but it is frequent in the Rabbins3.
Sagan is also put for Princes, or the chief Officers of a Kingdom; and this Word is often met with in this Sense, in the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Sagan is rather Chaldean than Hebrew, and it is very likely that the Hebrews learn’d it from the Chaldees, to express Princes and great Courtiers, Magistrates and Men in Power, not only among the Babylonians, but also among the Hebrews. St. Jerom generally translates this Word by Magistrates, and the Septuagint by Satraps, Princes, Nobles, Governors.
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