Gal 1" (jrfpi<r<rori?pu!) ; and ' exceedingly the more,' 2 Co 7" ' e. tlie more joyed we ' (irepio-croT^pui /idWoK ixifnt^^')- Notice al.so ' very exceedingly,' Gn 27" 'And Isaac trembled very e.' (pns: Tin;) iNS-iV r['^-[: .T;-;n, lit., as AV^m, 'trembled with a great trembling greatly'; LXX, i^iaT-q Si 'I<ro4a (KffTacLv /leydX-Qv <T<p65pa ; Geneva, ' Then Izhtik was stricken with a meruelous great feare ' ; Bishops', ' And Isahac was greatly astonied out of measure' ; Dillniann, ' Daerschrak Isaakgrossen Erschreckens liber die Massen ' ; other translations are less forcible). J. Hastinos.
EXCELLENCY.— The verb to 'excel' occurs 13 times in AV, translating just as many difl'erent Heb. and Gr. words, but always distinctly with the sense of 'be pre-eminent over others,' 'surpa.ss.' The idea of pre-eminence is seen even in Ps 103''^'' 'ye his angels that excel in strength,' though the Heb. is rb ■-■i: gibbdrc kCah, lit. ' heroes of strength ' ; for, as Delitzsch says, it is because to the angel hosts belong strength unequalled that they are summoned now to praise God in company with the Church on earth, whose dignity surjiasses every other created thing.
Pre-eminence is also the leading thought in the word 'excellency.' 1. Sometimes the quality in which the pre-eminence appears is stated ; thus Gn 49^ ' the excellency of dignity, and the excel- lency of power' (t^ nn;i nxif t-i;), i.e. says Delitzsch, precedence, both in respect and in power, is due to Reuben above his brethren, because he is the first- born ; Ezk 24*' ' I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength,' i.e. the place of pre- eminent strength (Heb. nriy jW:, RV 'the pride of your power ) ; 1 Co 2' ' 1 . . . came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom' (k-afl' vtrtpoxw 'Klryoii fi aoipla^. ' The word v-rvepoxn denotes strictly the act of overhanging, or the thing which over- hangs ; hence superiority, pre - eminence : by Byzantine wTiters it is used in the sense " your Excellency " ' — Go<let); Ph 3' ' the excellency of the knowledge of Christ .Jesus ' (ri virepixov) ; 2 Co 4' ' that the excellency of tlie power may be of Go<i ' (ri uvip^oXij, RV ' exceeding OTeatness,' but ' superi- ority,' ' pre-eminence,' is always the meaning of the word). 2. More often the ' excellency ' is of no special quality ; but even then the Eng. word, as undnrstciod in 1611, though less precise is not less forcible than its Heb. or Gr. equivalents, for it has always in it the sense of superiority, uniqueness. Cf. Pre/, to AV 1611, 'for the worth and excellency thereof above the rest'; Pr. Bk. I5.'J2 (Keeling, p. 382), 'Forasmuch then as your Ollice is of so great excellency, and of so jjreat dilKculty'; Bacon, Adv. of Learn. II. xxiii. 27 (Selby, p. 149), ' Julius Ca>sar ... at first was an orator or pleader ; but when he saw the excellency of Cicero, Hortensius, Catullus, and others . . . he . . . transferred his designs to a martial great- ness.' The two words chieHy translated 'excel- lency ' in AV are : (1) pKJ gA'On (Ex 15', Job 37*, of J" ; Ps 47*, Am 6" 8', Nah 2-, of ' Jacob ' ; Is 60'" of Zion ; Ezk 24*' of the temple ; Is 13'» of the Chal- da-ans), a word which primarily means ' exalta- tion,' hence majesty which is pre-eminent ; (21 m.x; ga'ilirah (I)t 33*«- *», Ps 68^^, all of J"), a word of lesslionour than the preceding, being used indeed most frequently of ' [iride ' in a bad sen.se ; still it is not inaptly translated ' excellency ' in those [lassages, the reference being always to the unique ' dignity ' of .1". (See also Driver, Joel and Amos, 1897, p. 238 f.).
In old writers ' excellence ' and ' excellency ' are both In use without difference of meaning. Shaks. uses 'excellence' 10 times, ' excellency * only thrice ; AV has ' excellency ' 2ft times, 'excellence' not once. 'Kxcellency' has now given place to ' excellence,' and the wortl has greatly deteriorated : the only
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EXCOMMUNICATION
Die of ' excellency ' is as a term of courtesy, * your Excellency,' which may be applied to any petty governor ; and * excellence * itself haa accepted the va^ue sense of general worth. The deterioration may be partly due to the still greater loss that has befallen the adj. excellent. In AV *excL-lIent' is probably never used without a distinct expression of comparison, ' superior,' • pre-eminent.' Cf. T. Adams, // Peter (163:i), p. 83, ' Jacob gave Reuben a blessing, but added, Thou shalt not be excellent ' ; and p. 83, * Cain's outlawed stock were yet excellent in worldly thin^.' But comparisons are odious ; Shaks. has a fondness for usmg it ironically, and in course of time it haa dropped down to merely ' very good.' J, HASTINGS.
EXCELLENT, or rather MOST EXCELLENT, is
the regular tr. in RV for the word KpancrTos, used as a title of respect four times, and alwaj-s by St. Luke (Lk 1», Ac SS* 24» 26^). In AV 'most noble ' is substituted in the last two instances. In three of those passages we clearly have the formal address of a person of high rank : ' Claudius Lysias unto the most e. governor Felix ' ; ' most 6. Felix ' ; ' But Paul saith, I am not mad, most e. Festus'; in the fourth (Lk P) it is used in the address to Theophilus, to whom St. Luke dedicated both his works, and a question of some interest arises as to whether we can assert from the use of the term elsewhere that Theophilus must have been also of high rank and position. So Theophylact, Arg. in Ev. sec. Luc: 'He WTites to Theophilus, a man of senatorial rank, and also a magistrate ((TvyKKTrriKbn ivra Kal dpxovTa tffws), for the word KpariaTos was used of magis- trates and governors [ipxifTui' xal Tfyeiibvuv), as also Paul says, addressing the governor Festus : " Most e. Festus." ' The authority of a Byzantine commentator would, however, be delusive on such a question, as the meaning of language changes, and the question must be settled by contemporary usage.