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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Ambassador, Ambassage
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AMBASSADOR, AMBASSAGE.—As diplomatic agents of sovereigns or other persons in high authority, ambassadors are frequently mentioned in OT and Apocrypha from the days of Moses (see below) to those of the Maccabees (1Ma_9:70; 1Ma_11:9; 1Ma_14:21; 1Ma_15:17). Insult to their persons was a sufficient casus belli (2Sa_10:4 ff.). In several passages (e.g. Num_20:14; Num_21:21, Deu_2:26, Jdg_11:12; Jdg_11:19, 2Sa_5:11, 2Ki_19:9) the ‘messengers’ of EV [Note: English Version.] are practically ‘ambassadors,’ as the Heb. word is elsewhere rendered (2Ch_35:21, Isa_30:4, Eze_17:15). Jos_9:4, however, should be read as in RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] . The ambassador of Jer_49:14 (= Oba_1:1) is probably an angel. In NT the word is used only metaphorically (2Co_5:20, Eph_6:20).
‘Ambassage,’ the mission of an ambassador (2Ma_4:11 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), is used also as a collective for ambassadors themselves (Luk_14:32; Luk_19:14 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). In 1Ma_14:23 read with RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘the copy of their words.’
A. R. S. Kennedy.