Reference: Ambassador, Ambassage
Hastings
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. Nu 20:14; 21:21; De 2:26; Jg 11:12,19; 2Sa 5:11; 2Ki 19:9) the 'messengers' of 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 Revised Version margin. The ambassador of Jer 49:14 (= Ob 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), is used also as a collective for ambassadors themselves (Lu 14:32; 19:14 RV). In 1Ma 14:23 read with RV 'the copy of their words.'
A. R. S. Kennedy.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying, Thus says your kinsman Israel: You know all the adversity and birth pangs that have come upon us [as a nation]:
So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
They worked cunningly, and went pretending to be ambassadors and took [provisions and] old sacks on their donkeys and wineskins, old, torn, and mended,
And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, What have you to do with me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?
Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, through your land to our country.
So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half their beards and cut off their garments in the middle at their hips and sent them away.
But [Neco] sent ambassadors to [Josiah], saying, What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to make haste. Refrain from opposing God, Who is with me, lest He destroy you.
For though [Pharaoh's] officials are at Zoan and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes [in Egypt],
I have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger is sent to the nations, saying, Gather together and come against her! And rise up for the battle.
But he [Zedekiah] rebelled against him [Nebuchadnezzar] in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Will he prosper? Will he escape who does such things? Can he break the covenant with [Babylon] and yet escape?
The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard tidings from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent forth among the nations [saying], Arise, and let us rise up against [Edom] for battle!
And if he cannot [do so], when the other king is still a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks the terms of peace.
But his citizens detested him and sent an embassy after him to say, We do not want this man to become ruler over us.
So we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ's personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.
For which I am an ambassador in a coupling chain [in prison. Pray] that I may declare it boldly and courageously, as I ought to do.