3. The priest of the golden calves at Bethel, who, in the time of Jeroboam II. complained to the king of
Amos's prophecies of coming evil, and urged the prophet himself to withdraw into the kingdom of Ju- dah and prophesy there ; for which he was threatened with severe family degradation in the approaching captivitv of the northern kingdom (Amos vii, 10-17), B.C. cir. 790.
4. The father of Joshah, which latter was one of the Simeonite chiefs who expelled the Amalekites from the vallev of Gedor in the time of Hezekiah (1 Chron. iv, 34). "B.C. cir. 712.
Ambassador, a public minister sent from one sovereign prince, as a representative of his person, to another. At Athens ambassadors mounted the pulpit of the public orators, and there acquainted the people with their errand. At Rome they were introduced to the senate, and there delivered their commissions (Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. v. Legatus).
In the Old Testament, the word "IIS, tsir, one who goes on an errand, is thus rendered in Josh, ix, 4; Prov. xiii, 17; Isa. xviii, 2; Jer. xlix, 14; Obad. 1; and this translation is used for V^B, melits', an inter- preter, in 2 Chron. xxxii, 31 ; also for "^r1"?, malak', messenger, in 2 Chron. xxxv, 21 ; Isa. xxx, 4 ; xxxiii, 7 ; Ezek. xvii, 15. Ministers of the Gospel in the New Testament are said to be ambassadors (7iO£<r/3'iia>), because they are appointed by God to declare his will to men, and to promote a spiritual alliance with Him (2 Cor. v, 20 ; Eph. vi, 20). See Alliance.
The relations of the Hebrews with foreign nations were too limited to afford much occasion for the ser- vices of ambassadors. Still, the long course of their history affords some examples of the employment of such functionaries, which enable us to discover the position which they were considered to occupy. Of ambassadors resident at a foreign court they had, of course, no notion, all the embassies of which we read being "extraordinary," or for special services and oc- casions, such as to congratulate a king on his acces- sion or victories, or to condole with him in his troubles (2 Sam. viii, 15; x, 2; 1 Kings v, 1), to remonstrate in the case of wrong (Judg. xi, 12), to solicit favors (Num. xx, 14), or to contract alliances (Josh, ix, 3 sq. ; 1 Mace, viii, 17).
The notion that the ambassador represented the person of the sovereign who sent him, or the dignity of the state from which he came, did not exist in an- cient times in the same sense as now. He was a highly distinguished and privileged messenger, and his dignity (2 Sam. x, 1-5) was rather that of our heralds than of our ambassadors. It may have been owing, in some degree, to the proximity of all the nations with which the Israelites had intercourse that their ambassadors were intrusted with few-, if any, discre- tionary powers, and could not go beyond the letter of their instructions. In general, their duty was limited to the delivering of a message and the receiving of an answer ; and if this answer was such as required a re- joinder, they returned for fresh instructions, unless thej* had been authorized how to act or speak in case such an answer should be given.
The largest act performed by ambassadors appears to have been the treaty of alliance contracted with the Gibeonitcs (Josh, ix), who were supposed to have come from "a far country;" and the treaty which they contracted was in agreement with the instruc- tions with which they professed to be furnished. In allowing for the effect of proximity, it must be remem- bered that the ancient ambassadors of other nations, even to countries distant from their own, generally adhered to the letter of their instructions, and were reluctant to act on their own discretion. Generals of armies must not, however, be confounded with ambas- sadors in this respect. The precept given in Deut. xx, 10, seems to imply some such agency ; rather, how- ever, that of a mere nuncio, often bearing a letter (2 Kings v, 5 ; xix, 14), than of a legate empowered to
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treat. The inviolability of such an officer's person ma}- perhaps be inferred from the only recorded infrac- tion of it being followed with unusual severities toward the vanquished, probably designed as a condign chas- tisement of that offence (2 Sam. x, 2-5 ; comp. xii, 26-31). The earliest examples of ambassadors em- ployed occur in the cases of Edom, Moab, and the Amorites (Num. xx, 14 ; xxi, 21 ; Judg. xi, 17-19), afterward in that of the fraudulent Gibeonites (Josh. ix, 4, etc.), and in the instances of civil strife men- tioned in Judg. xi, 12, and xx, 12 (see Cunanis de Rep. Hebr. ii, 20, with notes by Nicolaus in Ugolini The- saur. iii, 771-774). They are mentioned more frequent- ly during and after the contact of the great adjacent monarchies of Syria, Babylon, etc., with those of Ju- dah and Israel, e. g. in the invasion of Sennacherib. They were usually men of high rank, as in that case the chief captain, the chief cup-bearer, and chief of the eunuchs were deputed, and were met by delegates of similar dignity from Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii, 17, 18 ; see also Isa. xxx, 4). Ambassadors are found to have been employed, not only on occasions of hostile chal- lenge or insolent menace (2 Kings xiv, 8 ; 1 Kings xx, 2, C), but of friendl}- compliment, of request for alliance or other aid, of submissive deprecation, and of curious inquiry (2 Kings xiv, 8 ; xvi, 7 ; xviii, 14 ; 2 Chron. xxxii, 31). The dispatch of ambassadors ■with urgent haste is introduced as a token of national grandeur in the obscure prophecy in Isa. xviii, 2. Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v. See Messenger.