Seah (Hastings' Dictionary)

See WeiGUTS AND MEASURES. SEAL, SEALING (subst. Dji'in ; (r<ppayU, iroinfipi- yiff/xa [LXX twice] ; specifically siijnet-ring, ntnn, nj;;?, in Aramaic Ni'jil', oa.KTv\ioi. Verb, onij ; aippay- if(4) [ail voices], KaTa<x(ppayil;'o,aai [act. and pass.], iwiff^payi^a [act. and mid.])— These words are used (1) in a literal, (2) in a figurative sense. i. LiTKEAL Sense.— (a) Use of Seals.

— There is evidence of the general use of seals in the early ages 'extending from the mists of Babylonian antiquit}' to the decline of Koman civilization ' {Enci/c. Brit. art. 'Gems'). We know from the OT that seals were used at an early date by the Hebrews (Gn 38"*-^ Judah's signet), by the Egyp- tians (Gn 41-" Pharaoh), and by the Persians (Est 3'" 8= Aliasuerus). Herodotus tells us (i.

195) that the accoutrement of a Babylonian was incomplete without a staff and a ring, but this ring was prob- ably a talisman more frequently than a signet. And the literary evidence is supported by that of gems and inscriptions dating as far back as B.C. 2000 and 3000, and sliowing that the practice e.x- tended to other nations (see Riehm, ElVB, quoting Levy's Tables, and de Vogii^'s Milanges d A rchio- logie orientale). Arabs and Persians of to-day wear sinular seals.

In the NT we have the arppayls upon the stone closing the mouth of the Lord's tomb (Mt 27""), and the oaxTuXios (probably a signet- ring containing the father's name) put upon the finger of the prodigal (Lk 15^-); probably also the gold ring of the rich worshipper in Ja 2'' was not only an ornament but a signet-ring, indicating in itself that he was a person of consequence. (6) Structure of seals.

— \l we may judge from the seals and signet-rinf;s that have come down to us, seals were of two kinds: (1) the small seal of precious stone or precious metal in a signet-ring ; (2) the more ample cone-shaped or round seals, some of metal (occasionally set in stone), some of porcelain or terra-cotta I (.

some even of wood are in yogue to-day in the East), large enough to contain Inscriptions and animal figures, such as figures of oxen or antelopes, and intended to be hung by a cold from the neck or from the arm (Gn 38"*- -°, Ca 3') or attached to the thing sealed (a door or a document, for example) when the impression was not m.-ule in the material of the thing itself.J (c) The material used as the medium. — Beckmann • See Bousset, OfenfiantTuj, in loco.

t II iy very doubtful, however, whether the 'great mass of existing (Babylonian) cylinfiLTs' could have been used aa svals. J Mr. Ilumard Grenfell tolls the present writer that sialint'S are not at all uncommon on Eio'ptinn papyri, sometimes lari,'e, more frei|uently small. He believes that the practice of sealing documents went back in Egypt to the earliest times, tliough the date of the earliest papyrus seal is as yet uncertain.

Jar- stoppers, however, were stamped in the time of tlie First Dynasty (earlier than B.C. 400U, according to Brufc-scli), and papyri of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties, extant in Iragments, probably, in their original state, contained seolings. {Hist, of Inventions, i. 140, Bohn's tr., quoted in Smith's Christian Antiquities, art. * Seals ') gives it as his opinion tliat 'in Europe wax has been every where used for sealing since the earliest ages.

But in the East it was not wax but clay (Job 38'*), sealed when soft and then made hard by burning. When a door or a stone was to be sealed, a clay seal was put at each end of the cord stretched across it (cf. Evnvrj. Bet. 8, tirixp^aav iirTo. cr<ppaylSas, with J n 9"- "). Some stones so sealed still retain the cord marks. But, like tlie Arabs and the Persians, the Hebrews also seem to have dipped seals or stamps in a black pigment, a paint or an ink.

The picture which Ezekiel draws (9^) of the man ' with the writer's inkhorn by his side,' marking the foreheads of the men that sighed and cried for the abominations in Jerusalem, is doubtless the source of the sealing picture in Rev 7. (d) Burposes of sealing. — Sealing was sometimes a substitute for signature (and conveniently so in days when writing was not a general accomplish- ment), if a letter had to be authenticated or a document to be ratified.

So Jezebel forged Ahab's signature (1 IC 21) ; and in Neh 9* 10' the sealing signified adherence to the contents of the covenant there and then made with God. At other times it denoted an inalienable possession, the signet itself being also the t.ype of all that was most precious and inviolable (Ca 8", Jer 22-'). This comes out in the figurative application 2 Ti 2" ' Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.'

(In the same sense, perhaps, are the <rrlyij,aTa, the ' brands ' of the Lord Jesus, Gal 6'"). Akin to this idea was that ol security and permanency, as when the stone of the lions' den was sealed by the king with his own signet and those of his lords, ' that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel' (Dn 6", cf. also Bel '■*, Mt 27"").

These ideas of oiimership and security are often combined with that of destina- tion, as in Ezk 9'' and Rev 7^, where the persons sealed were, as God's people, secured from imminent destruction and designated for future reward.

Finally, connected with the ideas of security and destination was the idea of secrecy oi jMstponejnent of disclosure, as when the words of a roll, mora [larticularly if prophetic, were sealed up for the uninitiated, or till the time came to publish tlieiu (Is 29", Dn 12^ Rev 10').

Quite in harmony with all these ideas was the idea of authority in the seal or signet, so that when a king bestowed his signet he thereby invested the recipient with royal authority, lending him, in fact, the royal name (Gn 41''^ Pharaoh and Joseph). ii. Figurative Sense. — In illustrating the scope of the literal, it has been unavoidable to trench upon the figurative, literal sealing being emblematic of one idea or another.

But we have still to deal with the religious, the spiritual sense of seal and sealing, where there is nothing literal at all, even in vision. This comes out principally in the NT. The idea of authentication is |)rominent when converts are called the seal of apostleship (1 Co 9-), and when circumcision is named a seal, i.e. an authentication, of that righteousness by faith which existed before the rite was performed (Ro 4").

The solemn authrnticntion of human experi- ence lies in the expression that he who h;us received the witness of the Son ' hath set seal to this that (Jod is true' in what He promised through the Son (Jn 3^) ; while the saying ' Him hath God tlia Father sealed' sij^x'aes authentication and declina- tion to convey eternal life (Jn 6-''). The fignirativa sense of seal in the passage (2 Ti 2'"), ' '1 he firm foundation of God ((TJod's foimdation of firm be- lievers) standeth, having this seal.

The Loid knoweth them that are liis,' includes ourner.thip, anthentication,security, and destination. All these ideas, but especially destination, are present when SEAL, SEAL SKIXS SEA-MO>,'STER 42; it is said tliat believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph 1'^) ; sealed unto the day of redemption (4**) ; sealed and having, in the Spirit within us, the earnest of what we shall be (2 Co l'").

Working back from the early assimilation of baptism to circumcision as a seal (Ueruius, Sim. viil. 6 ; 2 Clem, vii.), some have interpreted the sealings just mentioned as directly referring to the baptismal rite. Hut Lightfoot seems to be justified in queslionin;:; (2 Clem, vii.) whether 'St. Paul or St. John {e.g. Rev 9*) used the ima|je with any direct reference to baptism.' Hatch (Ilibbert Lectures, p. 295) and Hamack {Dogmengesch. I. i.

151) trace the bajitism sense of aippayit to the Greek mysteries ; but Anrich (Mystei-ienicesen, p. 12011'.) gives in his adherence to the belief that the origin of the use is tlie Jewish view of circumcision as a seal (see Anrich for illustr., and Sanday-Headlam on Ro4"). One peculiar lij-Tirative use remains to be noticed. St.

Paul, in speaking (Ro 15^) of handing over the collection to the saints at Jerusalem, describes his act as 'sealing to them this fruit' (of his ell'orts, or of the spiritual blessings that had gone fortli from the Jews).

The simplest explanation seems to be that of Theodore of Mopsuestia : that the apostle is referring to the solemn and exact formalities of the transaction — a view which Deissmann supports from the papyri of Fayyftm, wliere such sealing of wheat-sacks and the like stands for a guarantee that they contain the amount they profess to con- tain. St. Paul desires to act like a conscientious merchant, and to guarantee formally that he hands over the amount due from him.

The suspicions w hich some of his enemies had set afloat, tnat he helped himself from the collection, must be defi- nitely and completely foreclosed. J. Massik.