And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.
The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman. There was a seal or signet in the ring. Notwithstanding Pliny's denial ('Hist. Nat.' b. 33:6), the fact is undoubted, that in the East the ring was frequently at the same time a seal (cf. Jeremiah 22:24). The bestowment of the ring, with the king's name and that of his kingdom engraven on it, was given with much ceremony, and it was equivalent to putting the sign manual to a royal edict.