[פחה]; it is a word current in several languages, Chaldee, Persic, etc. Parkhurst derives it from [פה], to extend. Theod. Aq. and Syn. render it ἡγούμενον, governor. He is called Sheshbazzar in Ezra 5:14; and Cyrus is said to have made him [פחה], governor or deputy. It is the name of a person
endued with authority by a sovereign. Zerubbabel, [זרבבל], has been derived from [זר], a stranger, and [בבנ], Babylon, a stranger or sojourner at Babylon. It deserves to be
noticed, that the civil governor is put here before the chief priest; and we find from Ezra that it was to the civil governor that Cyrus delivered the holy vessels of the temple. See Ezra 5:14.—Ed.