Isaiah 18:2 - "which sends ambassadors by the Nile, in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation, tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divided."

Ezekiel 17:15 - "But he rebelled against him, by sending ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army ..."

There are several ways in which we can translate the words used for "ambassador" in the Bible, but the most frequently used interpretation is that of messenger, from the Hebrew mal’ akh, or malach, which means messenger. This word has an interesting biblical history of its own. We are, of course, familiar with the Old Testament book of Malachi, and no doubt assumed that this was the author’s name. However, this was a clerical error at some time in the past, so that a word which meant "messenger" was wrongly given as the name of a man! We also find this as being used when referring to any supernatural messenger from God - an angel. Angels, then, can be considered ambassadors from God, carrying messages to men.

We can also use the Greek words in the New Testament, which translate into "to be older," or "aged, dignity," or "aged." This incorporates the idea of wisdom and experience, and certainly these were needed qualities, just as much as today. Why should this be so? Well, let’s consider the position of the ambassador.

These men were used to send congratulations, to make alliances, and to protest wrongs, among the more outstanding of their duties. Now, obviously, you can’t send just anyone on such missions. So, these men of wisdom, as we have said, and also men who possessed great education and ability. They were usually men of high rank, as Sennacherib’s chief-marshall, Tartan; chief eunuch, Rabsaris; and chief-officer, Rabshakey, met by Hezekiah’s house-master, scribe and recorder (2 Kings 18:17ff).

Today our ambassadors, our consuls, our emmisaries, and other statesmen who confer with heads of state of other nations, are representative of our government and its policies. Most of these positions are resident ones - that is, the individual is the personal representative of the President and Congress, living in a certain foreign land. He is a go-between in conveying messages from our nation to another. In that manner, his function is the same as his biblical predecessor’s. However, the concept of his actually living in another land is probably foreign to the biblical idea. An ambassador was sent out to wherever and whenever it was necessary, and then returned to home base.

In one other way, however, the ancient and the modern ambassadors share; that is, both had (and have) diplomatic immunity. We are sometimes upset because representatives of other nations violate our laws, and cannot be prosecuted. In just such a way 2 Samuel 10:4, did the poeple of Hunan violate the immunity of the ambassadors sent by David. There is really nothing new under the sun!