Seal

"Commonly a ring engraved with some device (Gen. 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 (Deut. 32:34; Neh. 9:38; 10:1; Esther 3:12; Cant. 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 [559]SIGNET.) "The use of seals is mentioned in the New Testament only in connection with the record of our Lord's burial (Matt. 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 (Rom. 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 (1 Cor. 9:2). Seals and sealing are frequently mentioned in the book of Revelation (5:1; 6:1; 7:3; 10:4; 22:10).