Reference: Ambassador
Easton
In the Old Testament the Hebrew word tsir, meaning "one who goes on an errand," is rendered thus (Jos 9:4; Pr 13:17; Isa 18:2; Jer 49:14; Ob 1:1). This is also the rendering of melits, meaning "an interpreter," in 2Ch 32:31; and of malak, a "messenger," in 2Ch 35:21; Isa 30:4; 33:7; Eze 17:15. This is the name used by the apostle as designating those who are appointed by God to declare his will (2Co 5:20; Eph 6:20).
The Hebrews on various occasions and for various purposes had recourse to the services of ambassadors, e.g., to contract alliances (Jos 9:4), to solicit favours (Nu 20:14), to remonstrate when wrong was done (Jg 11:12), to condole with a young king on the death of his father (2Sa 10:2), and to congratulate a king on his accession to the throne (1Ki 5:1).
To do injury to an ambassador was to insult the king who sent him (2Sa 10:5).
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And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
They did work craftily, and went and made as if they had been embassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
They did work craftily, and went and made as if they had been embassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou hast come against me to fight in my land?
Then said David, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.
When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.
And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
But, in the business of the embassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
But he sent embassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he may not destroy thee.
A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful embassador is health.
That sendeth embassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation measured by line and trodden down, whose land the rivers have laid waste.
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the embassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
I have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an embassador is sent to the heathen, saying, Assemble, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
But he rebelled against him in sending his embassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an embassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
Now then we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For which I am an embassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Fausets
Stands for two Hebrew words: malahch, "messenger," and tzeer, "ambassador." Israel's commanded isolation rendered embassies an infrequent occurrence; they were mere nuncios rather than plenipotentiaries. The earliest instances occur in the case of Edom, Moab, and the Amorites (Nu 20:14; 21:21). Gibeon feigned an ambassage (Jos 9:4). The ambassador's person was regarded as inviolable (2Sa 10:2-5; 12:26-31).
Men of high rank usually; as Sennacherib sent his chief captain, Chief cupbearer, and chief eunuch, Tartan, Rabsaris, Rabshakeh, whom Hezekiah's chief men of the kingdom, Eliakim over the household, Shebna the secretary, and Joab the recorder, met (2Ki 18:17-18; Isa 30:4; 33:7; compare Isa 18:2). Once in New Testament, "we are ambassadors for Christ" (2Co 5:20); treating with men "in Christ's stead": God "beseeching," and His ambassadors "praying" men to be reconciled to God. Majesty, faithfulness, yet withal tenderness, are implied. Our part is to send prayers, as our ambassage, to meet God's ambassadors, desiring His conditions of peace (Lu 14:32; Isa 27:5).
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And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
They did work craftily, and went and made as if they had been embassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
They did work craftily, and went and made as if they had been embassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
Then said David, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.
Then said David, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters to thee? hath not David rather sent his servants to thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?
And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters to thee? hath not David rather sent his servants to thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.
Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.
When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.
And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.
And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters.
And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters. Now therefore collect the rest of the people, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.
Now therefore collect the rest of the people, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. And David collected all the people, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.
And David collected all the people, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight of which was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.
And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight of which was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem: and they went up, and came to Jerusalem: and when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem: and they went up, and came to Jerusalem: and when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field. And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
That sendeth embassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation measured by line and trodden down, whose land the rivers have laid waste.
That sendeth embassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation measured by line and trodden down, whose land the rivers have laid waste.
Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.
Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the embassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the embassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassy, and desireth conditions of peace.
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassy, and desireth conditions of peace.
Now then we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Now then we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Morish
There are three Hebrew words thus translated, signifying 'an interpreter,' 'a messenger.' They were not, as in modern times, residents in foreign lands, but were officers sent from one sovereign to another with any message of importance, or to negotiate matters of mutual interest. The men from Gibeon pretended to be ambassadors come from a distance to make an alliance with Israel. Jos 9:4. Ambassadors came from Babylon to visit Hezekiah, 2Ch 32:31; and from the king of Egypt to Josiah. 2Ch 35:21. Such persons represented the kings who sent them, and, whatever the message, were usually treated with due respect. David severely resented the insult offered to the messengers sent by him in kindness to Hanun, king of the children of Ammon. 2Sa 10:1-14. In 2 Sam. 9 the kindness of God was accepted; here kindness was rejected. In the N.T. the apostles were ambassadors for Christ to a guilty world, to beseech their hearers to be reconciled to God. 2Co 5:20; Eph 6:20; and judgement will fall on those who obey not the gospel. 2Th 1:8; 1Pe 4:17.
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They did work craftily, and went and made as if they had been embassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. Then said David, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. read more. And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters to thee? hath not David rather sent his servants to thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return. And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish-tob twelve thousand men. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ish-tob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he selected of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon. And he said, If the Syrians shall be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon shall be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth him good. And Joab and the people that were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.
But, in the business of the embassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
But he sent embassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he may not destroy thee.
Now then we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For which I am an embassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Smith
Ambassador,
a person of high rank employed by a government to represent it and transact its business at the seat of government of some other power. The earliest examples of ambassadors employed occur in
afterwards in that of the fraudulent Gibeonites,
etc., and in the instances of civic strife mentioned
and Judg 20:12 Ambassadors are found to have been employed not only on occasions of hostile challenge or insolent menace,
but of friendly compliment, of request for alliance or other aid, of submissive deprecation and of curious inquiry.
2Ki 14:8; 16:7; 18:14; 2Ch 32:31
Ministers are called ambassadors of Christ.
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And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
They did work craftily, and went and made as if they had been embassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did ye not hate me, and expel me from my father's house; and why have ye come to me now when ye are in distress? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. read more. And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, The LORD be a witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh. And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou hast come against me to fight in my land? And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came out of Egypt, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and to Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon: And said to him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness to the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken to it. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab; but he would not consent. And Israel abode in Kadesh. Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land to my place.
And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?
And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said to him, Thus saith Ben-hadad,
Yet I will send my servants to thee to-morrow about this time, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in thy eyes, they shall take it in their hand, and carry it away.
Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me from the hand of the king of Syria, and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
Watsons
AMBASSADOR, a messenger sent by a sovereign, to transact affairs of great moment. Ministers of the Gospel are called ambassadors, because, in the name of Jesus Christ the King of kings, they declare his will to men, and propose the terms of their reconciliation to God, 2Co 5:20; Eph 6:20. Eliakim, Shebna, and Josh, the servants of king Hezekiah, were called "ambassadors of peace." In their master's name they earnestly solicited a peace from the Assyrian monarch, but were made "to weep bitterly" with the disappointment and refusal, Isa 33:7.
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Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the embassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
Now then we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For which I am an embassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.