the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Seal
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or We find the use of seals of great antiquity, and they are so spoken of through the whole book of God. Judah gave Tamor the seal, or signet and pledge, as a token. (Genesis 38:17-18) And the custom was uniform among all the persons of the east. (1 Kings 21:8; Esther 3:12) But what I have thought particularly worth our notice under this article is, that the Lord himself condescends to make use of this custom in relation to divine things. Hence the work of the Holy Ghost upon the heart is called the seal of the Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13) Yea Christ himself is said to be sealed by the Father. (John 6:27) And very sweetly the church, under the consciousness of these precious things being sealed, cries out in an earnestness to her Beloved, "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death jealousy is cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." (Song of Song of Solomon 8:6) Some have thought that this is the desire of Christ, to be set as a seal upon the arm and in the heart of the church, and for the same reasons. And it is possible it may be so; indeed I see no reason why we may not make application of them to both. But be this as it may the Scripture sense of sealing is the same; Christ desires his church, and his church desires her Christ, that there may be such a nearness, and connection, and union, and intimacy between them as is formed between those where the arm is always lifted up to protect and help, and the heart hath an everlasting impression in love abiding, so that the person and interest is never taken off from the mind. Abide in me, said Jesus to his disciples, and I in you. (John 15:4) One in heart, in mind, in all!
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Seal'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/s/seal.html. London. 1828.
