So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.
So she wrote letters ... and sealed them with his seal. The seal-ring contained the name of the king, and gave validity to the documents to which it was affixed (Esther 8:8; Daniel 6:17). Besides rings with a seal attached to them, there were other forums of seal or signet, neither set metal nor worn on the fingers: these were engraved stones, on part of the surface of which the necessary figures and characters were inscribed. This practice probably originated with the Egyptians; but it was afterward adopted by the Phoenicians. The stone was cut by lapidary, in the form of a cylinder, a pyramid, or a square, according to the taste or fancy of the other; at other times it was bisected, and on the convex superficies of the cut diameter the form of a scarabaeus or beetle was engraved; while the flat under-surface contained the legend or inscription for the seal. It has been conjectured, from Jezebel's Phoenician extraction and her ready command of the king's seal, that Ahab's might be of the Phoenician description. By allowing her the use of his signet, Ahab passively consented to Jezebel's proceeding. Being written in the king's name, it had the character of a royal mandate.
Sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in the city. They were the elders or civic authorities of Jezreel and would in all likelihood be the creatures and fit tools of Jezebel. Ahab and Jezebel were now in Samaria (1 Kings 20:43).