- SEAL commonly a ring engraved with some device (Genesis 38:18, 25).
Jezebel “wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal” (1
Kings 21:8). Seals are frequently mentioned in Jewish history
(Deuteronomy 32:34; Nehemiah 9:38; 10:1; Esther 3:12; Cant. 8:6; Isaiah
8:16; Jeremiah 22:24; 32:44, etc.). Sealing a document was equivalent to
the signature of the owner of the seal. “The use of a signet-ring by the
monarch has recently
received a remarkable
illustration by the
discovery of an
impression of such a
signet on fine clay at
Koyunjik, the site of
the ancient Nineveh.
ANCIENT JEWISH SEALS This seal appears to
have been impressed
from the bezel of a metallic finger-ring. It is an oval, 2 inches in length by 1
inch wide, and bears the image, name, and titles of the Egyptian king
Sabaco” (Rawlinson’s Hist. Illus. of the O.T., p. 46). The actual
signet-rings of two Egyptian kings (Cheops and Horus) have been
discovered. (See SIGNET.)
The use of seals is mentioned in the New Testament only in connection
with the record of our Lord’s burial (Matthew 27:66). The tomb was
sealed by the Pharisees and chief priests for the purpose of making sure
that the disciples would not come and steal the body away (ver. 63, 64).
The mode of doing this was probably by stretching a cord across the stone
and sealing it at both ends with sealing-clay. When God is said to have
sealed the Redeemer, the meaning is, that he has attested his divine mission
(John 6:27). Circumcision is a seal, an attestation of the covenant (Romans
4:11). Believers are sealed with the Spirit, as God’s mark put upon them
(Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). Converts are by Paul styled the seal of his
apostleship, i.e., they are its attestation (1 Corinthians 9:2). Seals and
sealing are frequently mentioned in the book of Revelation (5:1; 6:1; 7:3;
10:4; 22:10).