Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(little mark). Much used by ancients to authenticate documents and secure packages and doors, the impression being made in clay or wax. Seals were frequently engraved stones set in rings (Gen. 41:42; Job 38:14; Jer. 32:10; Matt. 27:66).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
Seal Ring (1600-1700)
Stones on which words, letters, or symbols are engraved. Anciently these were pierced, and by a cord or chain were hung from the arm or the neck, or they were set in rings and worn on the finger. The design was impressed on pieces of clay which were attached to official documents, which in the East are not considered authentic without being sealed (Ex. 28:11; Esther 8:8,10; Job 38:14; Dan. 6:17). The seal was also used to ensure security, or to preserve the sanctity of things not to be revealed (Isa. 29:11; Dan. 12:4,9; Matt. 27:66; Rev. 20:3; Rev. 22:10).
A covenant was sealed by Nehemiah and those with him (Neh. 10:1). The believer, in crediting what God says of man, and of God’s salvation, virtually attaches his seal (vouches for the fact) that God is true (John 3:33). “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His [God’s side]; and, Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity [man’s side]” (2 Tim. 2:19). This is an illustration of a double-seal turning on a pivot, of which either side could be used.
The roll in Revelation 5 had seven seals, so arranged that by breaking one seal a certain portion could be unrolled; and each seal was broken in succession until the whole was revealed.
“323. Seals” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
1 Kings 21:8. So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal.
The seal is, in the East, of more importance than the signature, and indeed is often used in place of a signature. No document is of any validity without it. The ordinary mode of using it is to cover it with ink, and press it on the paper. The seal is often connected with a ring, and worn on the finger. See note on Genesis 41:42 (#79).
Ancient seals have been found of various shapes—cylindrical, square, pyramidal, oval, and round. A very common style of seal among the ancient Egyptians was one made of stone, rounded on one side and flat on the other. The inscription for the seal was on the flat surface, and the convex surface was skillfully wrought into the form of a scarabaeus or beetle.
Since the beetle was worshiped by the Egyptians, whose example was followed by the Phenicians, after whose deities Ahab had gone, some have thought that Ahab’s seal was of this description.
Seals that were not set in rings were perforated with a hole through which a string passed, by means of which the seal was suspended from the neck. It is supposed that Judah’s was worn in this way (Gen. 38:18).
Many ancient seals were in shape of a cylinder, and some of these were set in a frame which enabled the seal to revolve as the impression was made. Some beautiful specimens of this kind of seal have been found among the ruins in Chaldea and Assyria. The figures engraved on seals were various. Modern Oriental seals have usually the name of the owner on them, and often a sentence from the Koran. The ancient seals had devices of symbolical meaning, and letters either hieroglyphic or cuneiform.
Seals are made of brass, silver, gold, pottery, and stone, either precious or common, set in metal. The art of engraving stones is very ancient. See Exodus 28:11,36; 39:6.
See also note on Nehemiah 6:5 (#381) and on Job 38:14 (#420).
“420. Impressions of Seals” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Job 38:14. It is turned as clay to the seal.
The bricks of Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria boar marks which have evidently been made with a seal. Egyptian wine jars and mummy pits were sometimes sealed with clay. There have been found in Assyria public documents made of clay, and having the letters stamped in them, and the marks of official sealing. In the East, doors of granaries or of treasure rooms are to this day sometimes sealed with clay, so that it is impossible to enter without first breaking the seal. The sepulcher of Christ was probably sealed in this way. See note on Matthew 27:66 (#735). Clay is used in preference to wax because the former hardens with the heat, while the latter melts. The engraving represents a lump of clay from Assyria, having several impressions of seals upon it.
For description of seals, see note on 1 Kings 21:8 (#323).
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