The Signet Ring

And the word of the LORD came the second time unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying,
‘I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.’
‘In that day,’ saith the LORD of hosts, ‘will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ saith the LORD, ‘and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee,’ saith the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:20-23).

The late sixth century BCE was a perilous time in Judah.

The Persians had allowed the Jews to return to their land; the Jews, through the encouragement of the word of the LORD through Haggai and Zechariah, had rebuilt the Temple (Ezra 5:1-6:22). Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin, one of the final kings of Judah before the exile), was governor of Judea (cf. 2 Kings 24:6-16, 25:27-30, 1 Chronicles 3:17, Haggai 1:1).

And yet things were not entirely right. The Persians ruled over the land of Judea. The Jews did not govern themselves. Their taxes went to provide for a foreign king and a foreign army, one that might oppress and persecute them at any time. Sure, they were back in their homeland, but it also still seemed as if many of God’s promises of restoration were yet to be fulfilled.

Zerubbabel represented a great hope. The author of 1/2 Kings ends his chronicle with the elevation of Zerubbabel’s grandfather Jehoiachin out of prison and in the midst of Evil-merodach king of Babylon (2 Kings 25:27-30), no doubt nourishing the hope of the reinstatement of the Davidic dynastic monarchy in Judah. And, behold, Zerubbabel is now in charge of Judah! No doubt many secretly (or less than secretly) wished for Zerubbabel to rule as his grandfather and more distant ancestors ruled. Haggai does talk about the overthrowing of kingdoms when God shakes the earth and Zerubbabel as His signet ring. We can certainly understand the hope and expectation of the Jews.

But it was not to be that way: the Persians themselves were well aware of Zerubbabel’s ancestry, and we do not get the impression that Zerubbabel acts or presumes in any way to seek independence from Persia and to re-establish the Davidic monarchy. Haggai and Zerubbabel will both pass away, and Judah is still under the control of the Persians.

Yet Haggai did not prophesy falsely. In fact, Haggai’s prophecy is of the greatest importance, not just to the Jews and Judah, but to all mankind as well.

Jehoiachin, also known as Jeconiah or Coniah, was not one of the good kings. In fact, Jeremiah roundly condemns and denounces him as a terrible king in Jeremiah 22:1-30. We must note Jeremiah’s specific prophecy in Jeremiah 22:24-30: Jeconiah will be cast out of his land and will die in another land, will not prosper, nor will any of his descendants prosper, and will no longer sit on the throne of David. Of particular significance is the image in Jeremiah 22:24-25: the LORD says that if Jeconiah were a signet ring on His hand, He would cast it off and give it over to those who seek his life, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians!

A signet ring is of great importance for a king: it is a mark of his authority. The signet ring would be used to make impressions in clay to demonstrate that the king had authorized a decree or message, as can be seen in Daniel 6:17 when Darius king of Persia seals the stone in front of the cave in which Daniel has been thrown with his signet ring. If Jeconiah is God’s form of authority in the land of Judah, he will be cast off and given over to his enemies, and will no longer have that authority. As God’s decree in Jeremiah 22:24-30 stands, no descendant of Jeconiah will sit on the throne of David, and in many respects that is precisely what happens: none of Jeconiah’s children sat on the throne of David. When Jeconiah was taken away, his uncle Mattaniah was made king over Judah as Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17-20), and Zedekiah would be the last descendant of David to sit on a throne in Jerusalem and rule over the physical nation of Judah (cf. 2 Kings 25:1-21).

God was in the right to be angry with Jeconiah. Yet Jeconiah’s grandson Zerubbabel finds favor in the eyes of God, and this is what makes Haggai 2:20-23 so important: God chooses Zerubbabel and will make him as a signet, a sign of authority. Consequences remain for the troubles of the past; Zerubbabel will not be king and will only have authority because it is granted by a foreign power. But the promise Haggai makes is of great importance, less for Zerubbabel, and far more for a later generation.

Ten generations after Zerubbabel, a man named Joseph is born in his lineage. Joseph will be supposed to be the father of one Jesus of Nazareth, who will claim Davidic heritage through Joseph, Zerubbabel, and Jeconiah (Matthew 1:11-16). If Jeremiah’s curse upon Jeconiah’s descendants continued to stand fully, then Jesus would have been disqualified on account of this lineage. To this day, in fact, some, especially among Jewish people, will argue that Jesus of Nazareth could not be the Messiah since He is a son of David through Jeconiah.

Yet this is when we see why Haggai’s prophecy is so important. Jesus can be the Branch of David and rule over a great Kingdom because God again chose His great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Zerubbabel as a signet ring. And through Jesus God did shake the world, and destroyed the strength of the kingdoms of the nations (cf. Matthew 27:51, Acts 2:16-20, Revelation 6:12-17). Jesus would reign over a Kingdom above all kingdoms, one that would never end, featuring servants from all nations (cf. Daniel 2:44, 7:13-14, Luke 1:31-33)!

Jesus, through His life, death, and resurrection, was given all authority in heaven and on earth, and thus sat on the throne of His father David and rules over the people of God for all time (cf. Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 1:31-33). Because Jeconiah sinned the physical throne was taken from his descendants; yet, since Zerubbabel served the LORD, God chose him, and we all can be the beneficiaries of that choice through Jesus. Let us praise God for His provision for all of us, and serve Jesus as the Risen Lord!

Ethan R. Longhenry

5 comments on “The Signet Ring
  1. Jesus is the king, much more than an instrument. Kings where their signet ring. Just like Joseph, he was given the signet ring he did not become the signet ring? Your response appreciated, I am just a student of the Bible.

    • The primary purpose of what YHWH tells Haggai is to restore Zerubbabel to the lineage of the Christ after He had rejected Zerubbabel’s grandfather from that role by the mouth of Jeremiah. Thus *Zerubbabel*, not Jesus, is the signet ring.

  2. In Haggai and Zechariah senario, could it be that God has for now, a person or persons that he has chosen to be his signet ring plus his witnesses for the temple made without hands and that he has an election that he will raise up to put the final Headstone on the building. ie the Jews coming into the body of Christ as the Headstone as the election of grace, as well and the temple to be build in Jerusalem after the rapture? Every one think this would be sometime in the future. The church is the Temple of God for his dwelling. The structure is built so what about the roof? Christ is the Headstone and a Jew so the Jewish people will make up the final part before Christ come. They were the foundation and they are the final one.

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