the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Ambassage
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or AMBASSAGE.—This term is used in Luke 14:32 (Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885) and in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 of Luke 19:14 (more accurately instead of Authorized Version ‘message’). The Greek is πρεσβεία. Both in the original and the translation the abstract is used for the concrete; a term meaning the office or message of an ambassador or body of ambassadors for the ambassadors themselves.
The formation of the word is not fully explained. The earlier form both in English and French was ambassade. The French suffix -age (= Lat. -aticum) is usually found in words transferred from France, but sometimes it was added to English words. Ambassage seems to be an exception to both. It may be either a formation from a French root or a softening of ambassade by the influence of analogy. The word was accented by some on the first syllable, by others on the second. An alternative spelling was embassage. Both forms are obsolete, being supplanted by embassy, the direct equivalent of ambassade.
In Luke 14:26-35 Jesus is speaking of discipleship and the necessary condition of entire surrender to spiritual authority. And He gives in illustration the parable which teaches the folly of entering on an enterprise without counting the cost. A prince who has provoked to war a superior power will do well to send an ambassage to sue for peace—peace without honour. The man whose force of character is not able to withstand and overcome the worldly obstacles, must in some form or other make compromise with the worldly powers. He is not lit for the kingdom of God. (For other interpretations see Trench and the Commentators).
The second occurrence (Luke 19:14) is in the parable of the Pounds; not in the main part, which bears resemblance to the parable of the Talents, but in one of two verses (Luke 19:14; Luke 19:27) directed to a subsidiary aspect of the situation. While the servants of the distant dignitary are, in his absence, carrying out instructions and using opportunities, a section of his subjects resolve to cast off his authority. To this effect they send an embassy. When he returns he rewards the faithful and executes punishment on the disloyal. The application is to the Second Coming of the Lord.
The term πρεσβεία (from πρέσβυς, ‘old’) belongs to classical Greek, and it contains an expression of the rule that responsible duties of statecraft are naturally entrusted to approved elders and heads of families. St. Paul uses the corresponding verb in 2 Corinthians 5:20, where he describes the Christian preachers as ‘ambassadors for Christ,’ and in Ephesians 6:20 the idea is repeated. Perhaps we may connect the occurrence of πρεσβεία in the Thud Gospel with St. Luke’s apparent preference of ‘presbyter’ to ‘bishop’ (Acts 20:17), and his repeated use of presbyterion for the body of Jewish elders (Luke 22:60, Acts 4:5; Acts 22:5). For the terms are expressive of dignity, and in St. Luke’s literary style a sense of dignity is clearly shown.
It is further notable that commentators are able to refer the suggestion of both these parables to contemporary history. The former corresponds with the struggle between Antipas and his father-in-law, Hareth, king of Arabia; the latter is illustrated by Herod, by Archelaus, and by Antipas, each of whom went to Rome to obtain an enhancement of power. But details apply to the case of Archelaus, who put his friends in command of cities, and against whom the Jews sent to the emperor an embassy of fifty men (Josephus Ant. xvii. xi. 1).
R. Scott.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Ambassage'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/a/ambassage.html. 1906-1918.
