Reference: SEAL, SEALING
American
The allusions and references to seals and sealing are frequent in the sacred writings. Seals or signets were in use at a very early period, and they were evidently of various kind. Some were used as a substitute for signing one's name, the owner's name or chosen device being stamped by it with suitable ink on the document to be authenticated. Seals to be used for this purpose, with or without the sign manual, appear to have been worn by the parties to whom they respectively belonged. The seal of a private person was usually worn on his finger, or his wrist, or in a bracelet, being small in size, Jer 32:10; Lu 15:22; Jas 2:2. See RINGS. The seal of a governor was worn by him, or carried about his person in the most secure manner possible. The royal seal was either personal, to the king, or public, to the state; in other words, the seal of the king and the seal of the crown, 2Sa 1:10: the first the king retained; the latter he delivered to the proper officer of state. So far modern usages enable us to comprehend clearly the nature of this important instrument. The impress of the royal seal on any document gave it the sanction of government, 1Ki 21:8; and a temporary transfer of the seal to another hand conveyed a plenary authority for the occasion, Es 3:10,12; 8:2. Instead of the impression of a seal, probably on account of the heat of the climate, Job 38:14. The seal was a token of possession and of careful preservation, De 32:34; Job 9:7; 14:17. A portion of clay covering the lock or opening of a door, etc., guarded it from being opened clandestinely, Song 4:12; Da 6:17; Mt 27:66. Travellers in the East have met the same custom in modern times. The cord around a book, box, or roll of parchment was often secured with a sea, Isa 8:16; Re 5:1. The Holy Spirit seals Christians, impressing his image upon them as a token that they are his, Eph 1:13-14; 4:30. See SO.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"Isn't this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth.
The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.
Then the king's scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the officials of every people, to every province according its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king's ring.
The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars.
My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment.
A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.
I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
A stone was brought, and placed on the opening of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
"But the father said to his servants, 'Quickly, bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation,?in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;
I saw, in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed shut with seven seals.