Reference: Seal
Easton
commonly a ring engraved with some device (Ge 38:18,25). Jezebel "wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal" (1Ki 21:8). Seals are frequently mentioned in Jewish history (De 32:34; Ne 9:38-10:1; Es 3:12; Song 8:6; Isa 8:16; Jer 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. 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 (Mt 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 (Mt 27:63-64). 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 (Joh 6:27). Circumcision is a seal, an attestation of the covenant (Ro 4:11). Believers are sealed with the Spirit, as God's mark put upon them (Eph 1:13; 4:30). Converts are by Paul styled the seal of his apostleship, i.e., they are its attestation (1Co 9:2). Seals and sealing are frequently mentioned in the book of Revelation (Re 5:1; 6:1; 7:3; 10:4; 22:10).
Illustration: Ancient Jewish Seals Illustration: Egyptian Signet-Rings
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He said, "What pledge should I give you?" She replied, "Your seal, your cord, and the staff that's in your hand." So he gave them to her and had sex with her. She became pregnant by him.
While they were bringing her out, she sent word to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong." Then she said, "Identify the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong."
"Is this not stored up with me?" says the Lord, "Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?
She wrote out orders, signed Ahab's name to them, and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders to the leaders and to the nobles who lived in Naboth's city.
So the royal scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king's signet ring.
The Beloved to Her Lover: Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame.
Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, seal the official record of God's instructions and give it to my followers.
The Lord says, "As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah, king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you.
Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the western foothills, and southern Judah. For I will restore them to their land. I, the Lord, affirm it!'"
and said, "Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body and say to the people, 'He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first."
So they went with the soldiers of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life -- the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him."
And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them.
If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are the confirming sign of my apostleship in the Lord.
And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) -- when you believed in Christ -- you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back and sealed with seven seals.
I looked on when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice, "Come!"
"Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God."
When the seven thunders spoke, I was preparing to write, but just then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders spoke and do not write it down."
Then he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book, because the time is near.
Fausets
Used to stamp a document, giving it legal validity. Judah probably wore his suspended from the neck over the breast (Ge 38:18; Song 8:6; Job 38:14). As the plastic clay presents various figures impressed on it by the revolving cylinder seal (one to three inches long, of terra cotta or precious stone, such as is found in Assyria), as "it is turned," so the morning light rolling on over the earth, previously void of form through the darkness, brings out to view hills, valleys, etc. Treasures were sealed up (De 32:34); the lions' den in Daniel's case (Da 6:17); so our Lord's tomb (Mt 27:66).
Sealing up was also to ensure secrecy (Da 12:4; Re 5:1). The signet ring was the symbol of royal authority (Ge 12:20; Es 3:10; 8:10). Clay hardens in the heat, and was therefore used in Assyria and Babylon rather than wax, which melts. A stone cylinder in the Alnwick Museum bears the date of Osirtasin I, between 2,000 and 3,000 B.C. The Assyrian documents were often of baked clay, sealed while wet and burnt afterwards. Often the seal was a lump of clay impressed with a seal and tied the document. Such is the seal of Sabacho or So, king of Egypt (711 B.C.), found at Nimrud (2Ki 17:4).
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Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.
He said, "What pledge should I give you?" She replied, "Your seal, your cord, and the staff that's in your hand." So he gave them to her and had sex with her. She became pregnant by him.
"Is this not stored up with me?" says the Lord, "Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?
The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt. Hoshea had sent messengers to King So of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him.
So the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who was hostile toward the Jews.
Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features are dyed like a garment.
The Beloved to Her Lover: Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame.
Then a stone was brought and placed over the opening to the den. The king sealed it with his signet ring and with those of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel.
"But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase."
So they went with the soldiers of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back and sealed with seven seals.
Smith
Seal.
The importance attached to seals in the East is so great that without one no document is regarded as authentic. Among the methods of sealing used in Egypt at a very early period were engraved stones, graved stones, pierced through their length and hung by a string or chain from the arm or neck, or set in rings for the finger. The most ancient form used for this purpose was the scarabaeus, formed of precious or common stone, or even of blue pottery or porcelain, on the flat side of which the inscription or device was engraved. In many cases the seal consisted of a lump of clay, impressed with the seal and attached to the document, whether of papyrus or other material, by strings. In other cases wax was used. In sealing a sepulchre or box, the fastening was covered with clay or wax, and the impression from a seal of one in authority was stamped upon it, so that it could not be broken open without discovery. The signet-ring was an ordinary part of a man's equipment.
The ring or the seal as an emblem of authority in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere is mentioned in
Ge 41:42; 1Ki 21:8; Es 3:10,12; 8:2; Da 6:17
and as an evidence of a covenant, in
Jer 32:10,44; Ne 9:38-10:1; Hag 2:23
Engraved signets were in use among the Hebrews in early times.
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He said, "What pledge should I give you?" She replied, "Your seal, your cord, and the staff that's in your hand." So he gave them to her and had sex with her. She became pregnant by him.
Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his own hand and put it on Joseph's. He clothed him with fine linen clothes and put a gold chain around his neck.
You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; you are to have them set in gold filigree settings.
"You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it the way a seal is engraved: "Holiness to the Lord."
They set the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved as with the engravings of a seal with the names of the sons of Israel.
So the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who was hostile toward the Jews.
So the royal scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king's signet ring.
The king then removed his signet ring (the very one he had taken back from Haman) and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther designated Mordecai to be in charge of Haman's estate.
I signed the deed of purchase, sealed it, and had some men serve as witnesses to the purchase. I weighed out the silver for him on a scale.
Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the western foothills, and southern Judah. For I will restore them to their land. I, the Lord, affirm it!'"
Then a stone was brought and placed over the opening to the den. The king sealed it with his signet ring and with those of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel.
On that day,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,' says the Lord, 'and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,' says the Lord who rules over all."
Watsons
SEAL. The ancient Hebrews wore their seals or signets, in rings on their fingers, or in bracelets on their arms, as is now the custom in the east. Haman sealed the decree of King Ahasuerus against the Jews with the king's seal, Es 3:12. The priests of Bel desired the king to seal the door of their temple with his own seal. The spouse in the Song 8:6, wishes that his spouse would wear him as a signet on her arm. Pliny observes, that the use of seals or signets was rare at the time of the Trojan war, and that they were under the necessity of closing their letters with several knots. But among the Hebrews they are much more ancient. Judah left his seal as a pledge with Tamar, Ge 38:25. Moses says, De 32:34, that God keeps sealed up in his treasuries, under his own seal, the instruments of his vengeance. Job says, Job 9:7, that he keeps the stars as under his seal, and allows them to appear when he thinks proper. He says also, "My transgression is sealed up in a bag," Job 14:7. When they intended to seal up a letter, or a book, they wrapped it round with flax, or thread, then applied the wax to it, and afterward the seal. The Lord commanded Isaiah to tie up or wrap up the book in which his prophecies were written, and to seal them till the time he should bid him publish them, Isa 8:16-17. He gives the same command to Da 12:4. The book that was shown to St. John the evangelist, Re 5:1; 6:1-2, &c, was sealed with seven seals. It was a rare thing to affix such a number of seals, but this insinuated the great importance and secrecy of the matter. In civil contracts they generally made two originals: one continued open, and was kept by him for whose interest the contract was made; the other was sealed and deposited in some public office.
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While they were bringing her out, she sent word to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong." Then she said, "Identify the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong."
"Is this not stored up with me?" says the Lord, "Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?
So the royal scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king's signet ring.
he who commands the sun and it does not shine and seals up the stars;
"But there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.
The Beloved to Her Lover: Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame.
Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, seal the official record of God's instructions and give it to my followers. I will wait patiently for the Lord, who has rejected the family of Jacob; I will wait for him.
"But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase."
Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back and sealed with seven seals.
I looked on when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice, "Come!" So I looked, and here came a white horse! The one who rode it had a bow, and he was given a crown, and as a conqueror he rode out to conquer.