capitals, were dispatched only on special occasions for specific purposes. Often they were persons of rank (2 Ki. 18:17, 18) and their office was highly respected. Consequently, they were accorded inviolability of person when they visited other rulers.

The treatment accorded a ruler’s messengers or envoys was considered as done toward the ruler and his government. Thus, when Rahab showed favor to the messengers sent as spies to Jericho by Joshua, she really was acting as she did because she recognized that Jehovah was the God and King of Israel. Jehovah, through Joshua showed her favor accordingly. (Josh. 6:17; Heb. 11:31) A flagrant violation of the unwritten international custom of respect toward envoys was the action of Hanun the king of Ammon, to whom King David sent some servants in a gesture of friendship. The king of Ammon listened to his princes, who falsely called the messengers spies, and publicly humiliated them, demonstrating his disrespect for David and his government. This disgraceful action led to war.—2 Sam. 10:2–11:1; 12:26-31.

Opposite to the modern-day practice of recalling an ambassador when diplomatic relations are broken with a government, the people of ancient times sent messengers or envoys as spokesmen to one another during times of strain in an effort to reestablish peaceful relations. Isaiah speaks of such “messengers of peace.” (Isa. 33:7) Hezekiah sent a peace appeal to Sennacherib the king of Assyria. Although Sennacherib was threatening the fortified cities of Judah, the messengers were given freedom of passage by the Assyrians because they were acting as Hezekiah’s envoys. (2 Ki. 18:13-15) Another example of this can be seen in the record about Jephthah, a judge in Israel. He dispatched messengers with a letter of remonstration against wrong action on the part of the king of the Ammonites and to clear up a dispute over territorial rights. If possible, Jephthah, through his envoys, would have settled the matter without war. These messengers were permitted to pass back and forth between the armies without hindrance.—Judg. 11:12-28; see MESSENGER.

AMBUSH

Ambuscades, in which troops were posted in concealed locations to surprise the enemy, were employed on various occasions by the Israelites. Joshua skillfully employed an ambush against Ai, posting five thousand men to the W of the city at night, while deploying the main body of his forces to the N. The following morning he drew the city’s defenders away from the city by feigning defeat, thus allowing the ambush to rise up and take the city (Josh. 8:2-21) Ambushes were involved in the dispute between the landowners of Shechem and Gideon’s son Abimelech. (Judg. 9:25, 31-45) Samson was the object of ambushes by the Philistines. (Judg. 16:1-12) Saul set an ambush against Amalek and later accused David of lying in ambush for him. (1 Sam. 15:5; 22:8) Other ambushes were those in the fight of Israel against the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 20:29-44), the unsuccessful ambush of Judah by Jeroboam (2 Chron. 13:13-19), the ambush producing confusion among Judah’s attackers in the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:22, 23), those mentioned in describing the fall of Jerusalem (Lam. 4:19), and the ambush decreed against Babylon by Jehovah. (Jer. 51:12) The returning Jewish exiles were protected from ambush by Jehovah.—Ezra 8:31; see WAR.

The Hebrew word ʼa·ravʹ, meaning “to lie in wait or to ambush,” is also used in describing the hunting tactics of animals (Job 38:39, 40; Lam. 3:10), and, figuratively, to describe the prostitute as she waylays men (Prov. 7:12; 23:27, 28), and to describe the tactics of wicked ones against the innocent and the righteous. (Job 31:9; Ps. 10:8, 9; Prov. 1:11, 18; 12:6; 24:15; Jer. 9:4-9; Mic. 7:2; compare Psalms 56:1-6; 83:3, 4.) In Israel the death penalty was decreed for the man found guilty of killing another after lying in wait to do it.—Deut. 19:11, 12.

The more than forty Jews who “bound themselves with a curse” plotted an ambush against the apostle Paul but were foiled by Paul’s nephew.—Acts 23:12-35.

AMEN

(Heb., ’a·menʹ; Gr., a·menʹ).

This word is a transliteration from the Hebrew in both English and Greek. The original meaning is “sure,” “truly,” “so be it,” “truth.” The Hebrew root word from which it is drawn (’a·manʹ) means, literally, “to build, support,” and, figuratively, “to be firm, faithful.”

In the Hebrew Scriptures the word is used as a solemn expression to obligate oneself legally to an oath or covenant and its consequences (Num. 5:22; Deut. 27:15-26; Neh. 5:13), as a solemn expression to subscribe to an expressed prayer (1 Chron. 16:36), to an expression of praise (Neh. 8:6) or to an expressed purpose. (1 Ki. 1:36; Jer. 11:5) Each of the first four books or collections of the Psalms concludes with this expression, perhaps indicating that it was customary for the congregation of Israel to join in at the end of the song or psalm with an “Amen.”—Ps. 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48.

The Hebrew word ’a·manʹ is applied to Jehovah as the “faithful God” (Deut. 7:9; Isa. 49:7), and describes his reminders and promises as “trustworthy” and “faithful.” (Ps. 19:7; 89:28, 37) In the Christian Greek Scriptures the title “Amen” is applied to Christ Jesus as the “faithful and true witness.” (Rev. 3:14) Jesus made singular use of the expression in his preaching and teaching, using it very often to preface a statement of fact or a promise or prophecy, thereby to emphasize the absolute truthfulness and reliability of what he said. (Matt. 5:18; 6:2, 5, 16; 24:34 and others) In these cases the Greek word (a·menʹ) is translated as “truly” (AV, “verily”) or, when doubled, as throughout the book of John, “most truly.” (John 1:51) Jesus’ use of “amen” in this way is said to be unique in sacred literature, and it was consistent with his divinely given authority.—Matt. 7:29.

However, as Paul shows at 2 Corinthians 1:19, 20, the title “Amen” applies to Jesus not merely in the sense of a truth speaker or true prophet and spokesman of God, but also as the one in whom all of God’s promises find fulfillment and whose course of faithfulness and obedience even to a sacrificial death confirms and makes possible the bringing to reality all such promises and declarations of purpose. He was the living Truth of those revelations of God’s purpose, the things to which God had sworn.—Compare John 1:14, 17; 14:6; 18:37.

The expression “amen” is used many times in letters, especially those of Paul, when the writer has expressed some form of praise to God (Rom. 1:25; 16:27; Eph. 3:21; 1 Pet. 4:11), or expresses the wish that God’s favor be manifested in some manner toward the recipients of the letter. (Rom. 15:33; Heb. 13:20, 21) It is also used where the writer earnestly subscribes to what is expressed.—Rev. 1:7; 22:20.

The prayer expressed at 1 Chronicles 16:36 and those contained in the Psalms (41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48), as well as the expressions contained in the canonical letters, all indicate the correctness of the use of “Amen” at the close of prayers. It is true that not all the prayers recorded show such conclusion such as David’s closing prayer for Solomon (1 Chron 29:19) or Solomon’s dedication prayer at the inauguration of the temple (1 Ki. 8:53-61), although such expression may well have been made. (Note 1 Chronicles 29:20.) Similarly, its use is not recorded in Jesus’ prayers (Matt. 26:39, 42; John 17:1-26), nor in the prayer of the disciples at Acts 4:24-30. However, the weight of the prior evidence presented strongly indicates the rightness of the use of “Amen” as a conclusion to prayer, and Paul’s statement at 1 Corinthians 14:16 in particular shows that it was customary for those in Christian assembly to join in the Amen to a prayer. Additionally, the examples of those in heaven, recorded at Revelation 5:13, 14; 7:10-12; and 19:1-4, all give support to its use in