As an attendant of the proconsul, Bar-Jesus would most likely serve in the position of court astrologer.1 Jewish magicians were apparently thought to be some of the best in the Roman Empire. Rulers would seek to attract philosophers/mystics to their court so as to give them advice and increase their own prestige. 2
7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.