Executioner (o-TTf/foi/Xfirwo, for Lat. specidator, originally a scout, afterwards a life-ffuardsman under the emperor), a member of the royal body-guard adopt- ed by Herod in imitation of the Romans (see Tacitus, Hist, ii, 11 ; Suetonius, Claud. 35), and in accordance ■with Oriental despotism, and employed to execute his sanguinary orders (Mark vi, 27). (See Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. v. Speculatores ; Schwarz, De Sjkcu- latoribus vett. Romanorum, Altd. 1726.) See Chere-
THITE.
In ancient times persons of the highest rank and station were emploj^ed to execute the sentence of the law. The office of Potiphar, in the Egyptian court, mentioned in Genesis xxxvii, 36, is thought to have been "chief of the executioners," as in the margin of our version. See Goard. This is still a high office in the East as a court office. Such executioners have nothing to do with carrj'ing into effect the awards of the law in its ordinary course, but only with those of the king. It is there an office of great responsibility ; and to insure its due and strict fulfilment, it is intrust- ed to an oflicer of the court, who has necessarily under his command a body of men whose duty it is to pre- serve the order and pence of the palace and its pre- cincts, and to attend and guard the royal person on public occasions ; and, under the direction of their chief, to inflict such punishment as the king awards upon those who incur liis displeasure. Poti])har, there- fore, in this sense might be called captain of the guard. He had his official residence at the public jail (Gen. xl, 3). Nebuzaradan (2 Kings xxv, 8; Jer. xxxix, 9) and Arioch (Dan. ii, II) hold the same office. That the "captain of the guard" himself occasionally per- formed the duty of an executioner appears from 1 Kings ii, 25, 34. Nevertheless the post wils one of high dignity, and something beyond the, present posi- tion of the zahit of modern Egypt (comp. Lane, i, 163), ■with which AVilkinson (ii,45) compares it. It is still
not imusual for officers of high rank to inflict corporal punisinnent with their own hands (Wilkinson, ii, 43). It does not ajipear that the Jews had public execu^ tioners, but the prince or general laid his commands on any of his attendants. Gideon commanded Jether, his eldest son, to execute his sentence on the kings of Midian ; Saul ordered the footmen who stood around him, and were probably a chosen body of soldiers for the defence of his person, to put to death the priests of the Lord, and when they refused, Doeg, an Edoni- ite, one of his principal officers, executed the com- mand (1 Sam. xxii, 18). Long after the days of Saul, the reigning monarch commanded Benaiah, the chief captain of his armies, to perform the duty of putting Joab to death. Sometimes the chief magistrate exe- cuted the sentence of the law with his own hands ; for when Jether shrank from the duty which his father required, (Jideon, at that time the supreme magistrate in Israel, did not hesitate to do it himself. Thus also in Homer {Odyss. xxi, fin. ; xxii, init.) we read that the exasperated Ulysses commanded his son Telema- chus to put to death the suitors of Penelope, which was immediateh^ done. In condemnations under the Mosaic law, the congregation or assembly of people executed the criminal, but the witnesses commenced the work of death (Lev. xxiv, 16 ; Deut. xvii, 7 ; John viii, 7 ; Acts vii, 57-60). Executions in the East are often verj' prompt and arbitrary-. In many cases, among the Turks and Persians, the suspicion is no sooner entertained, or the cause of offence given, than the fatal order is issued, the messenger of death hur- ries to the unsuspecting victim, shows his warrant, and executes his order that instant in silence and soli- tude (2 Kings vi, 32 ; Prov. xvi, 14 ; Mark vi, 27). See Punishment.
Exedrae, buildings contiguous to the church. See Church Edifices.
Exegesis. See Exegetical Theology.
Exegetical Collections. See Catena; Com- mentaries.
Exegetical Theology, that branch of theolog}' which treats of the exposition and interpretation of the Old and New Testaments. See Encyclop.edia OF Theology. Exegesis (t^'^yjcc) is statement, ex- planation, from thtykoj.iai, I lead, describe, explain; and from this, an exegete, t^tjyijn'ic, ffuide, interpreter. The word exegetical, then, includes all that belongs to explanation, and Exegetical Theology includes all that belongs to the explanation and interpretation of the holy Scriptures.
I. Matter of E.regetical Theology. — The Bible, in- cluding both the O. and N. T., is the material on which the science of exegetical theology is emj)loj'ed. Some writers therefore designate it as Biblical thcolo- g3' ; but the real work of exegesis is to gather from the word the material of Biblical theology, leaving the arrangement and co-ordination of this material to fall into a separate branch of the science. See Bibli- cal Theology ; Theology. In fact, the results of exegetical study may fall, according to their nature, into historical, doctrinal, or practical theolog3\ See Bible. As the Bible comes to us as the record of a revelation from God, its claims in this respect form the subject of a separate branch, entitled Inspiration (q. v.). The study of inspiration leads to the general question of the possibilitv and nature of Kevelatiow (q. v.).