Besides the strictly historical details which he borrows from 2 Kings, the Chronicler adds certain particulars, the purpose of whose insertion is evident (2 Ch 25**- "■"). (On these additions see Graf Die geschichtlichen Biicher des A.2\ p. 157 ff., and Driver, LOT, p. 494.)
2. The priest of Jeroboam II. who opposed and attempted to silence the prophet Amos when the latter delivered his message at the sanctuary of Bethel (Am 7"'-". See Amos). 3. A man of the tribe of Simeon (1 Ch 4^). i. A descendant of Merari(l Ch 6«).
J. A. Selbie.
AMBASSADOR.— Three Heb. words are some- times tr. 'ambassador' in RV of OT : 1. TiN^?, a general term for messenger, used for (a) messengers of private men (2 K 5'") ; (6) messengers of God = angels (see Angel) ; (c) messengers of kings or rulers = ambassadors (2 K 19», 2 Ch 35^'), though sometimes tr. ' messengers ' in RV (Dt 2^, Nu 20"). 2. T!j, apparently a synonym of 1 (Pr 13" ; cf. 25"), hence=herald or messenger from court (Is IS'' 57'), and metaphorically an 'ambassador' of J" (Jer 49"; cf. Ob v.'). In Jos 9* the reading of RVm is to be preferred. 3. ("^o, properly an interpreter, and so used in Gn 42^ ; cf. Job 33-^ (?) ; hence tr^ in Is 43" (in theocratic sense) 'inter- preters' RV text, 'ambassadors' marg. ; in 2 Ch 323' < ambassadors ' text, ' interpreters ' marg.
Ambassadors were not permanent officials, but were chosen from attendants at court for special occasions (see 2 K 19"). Their evil treatment was regarded then as now as a grave insult to king and people (2 S 10'"*). In the Apocr. the general term 477«Xot, 'messenger,' is often used even in dealings with courts (Jth 1" 3', 1 Mac 1" 7'"), but during the
Maccabrean period, when embassies were frequently sent, the ordinary Gr. words for ' ambassadors ' are employed: Tpcalia/r-^s (1 Mac 13^' 14-'-^), Trpetr/Seuj ( 1 Slac 9™ 1 1» 13"), and Trpeir/SDra. (2 Mac 11^}. The word Trpfc^ela, 'anibassage' (RV Apocr.), occurs in 2 Mac 4". In NT (Lk U" 2 Co 5-°, Eph 6^") the use is metaphorical. G. W. Thatcher.
AMBASSAGE, mod. embassy; in AV only Lk I42-, but RV adds Lk 19" (AV 'message') where the same Gr. word (wpfc^cla) is used. The meaning is not a message sent by ambassadors, but the ambassadors themselves. In 1 Mac 14^ the mean- ing is ' message ' (Gr. \6yoi, RV ' words ').
J. Hastings.
AMBER.— See Minerals.
AMBUSH, from in (which becomes im before b, whence am) and boscus, a bush, wood, thicket, is used in various shades of meaning. 1. The abstract state of lying in wait in order to attack an enemy secretly. Jos 8" ' (Joshua) set them to lie in a. between Bethel and Ai.' 2. The place where the a. is set, or the position thus assumed. Jos 8' ' Ye shall rise up from the a.' ; 1 Mac 9" RV ' And they rose up against them from their a.' 3. The men that form the a. Jos 8" ' the a. arose quickly out of their place ' ; Jer 51'^ ' prepare the ambushes ' (m. 'liersin wait'). The mod. military term is am- buscade. Ambushment, meaning a oody of troops disposed in ambush, is used in 2 Ch IS'""*; also ambushments in 2 Ch 20^ (RV 'liers in wait'; but RV gives ambushment in Jos 8' for 'lie in ambush,' and in Jg 9^ for 'lying in wait').
J. Hastings.
AMEN. — This word found its way bodily from the Heb. (]?¥) into the Hellenistic idiom tnrough the LXX, and strengthened its hold later on by its more copious use in the version of Symmachus. It is derived from [ix he propped, in Niphal (re- flexive) he was firm. So the adverb ]PN, firmly, came to be used, like our surely, for confirmation, in various ways.
(1) It is used for the purpose of adopting as one's own what has just been said (this answering sense being apparently the orig. one, Nu 5^) = ' so is it,' or ' so shall it be,' rather than the less compre- hensive ' so be it,' though ' so be it ' is occasionally the prominent meaning (Jer 28'). The word is limited to the religious atmosphere, being, on human lips, an expression of faith that God holds the thing true, or will or can make it true. Thus after the ' oath of cursing,' recited in Nu 5^, there is added, both in the orig. Hebrew and in the Greek of Sym., 'The woman shall say. Amen, Amen,' the word being doubled for empnasis; where the LXX, however, haa the inadequate y^voiro, yivotro, so be it, as is the case in nineteen out of the twenty -three passages where the Heb. word occurs in tliis connexion : of the rest, three have d^'i''. and the fourth dXijfluJj. It is put also into the mouth of the people at the end of each curst uttered on Mount Ebal (Dt 27). At the close, likemse, oipvblic prayers, thanksgivings, benedictions, or doxologies the people used to say Amen (Neh 8", Amen, Amen); not, apparently, however in the services of the temple, where the response was different (Edersheim, Temple Service, p. 127), but certainly in the services of the sj-na- gogue (Ps 41", e.g., and Schurer, HJP 11. u. 78, 82). That this custom passed over from the synagogue to the Christian assemblies we gather from I Co 14", where St. Paul speaks of tA d^ijy, the (customary) amen uttered by the listeners at the close of the extempore thanksgiving.