82 GREG GOSWELL these terms that restricts the allusion to the David tradition” 17. An impressive compilation of motifs that can have Davidic connotations (including two of the terms used in v. 23) is also found, for example, in Isa 42,1-4, but it would be a mistake to automatically assign a royal identity to the Isaianic figure of the servant of the Lord 18. 5. The signet ring It is regularly asserted by scholars that the metaphor of the “seal” applied to Zerubbabel (2,23: “I will make you into a seal” 19) reverses the judgment pronounced on Jehoiachin in Jer 22,24-30 20. According to Rose, both the terminology “seal” (μtwj RSV “ signet ring”) and the details of the picture in 2,23 are wrong for a kingship interpretation of the imagery (and the same evaluation applies to Jeremiah 22) 21. God is depicted as wearing the seal “on [his] right hand” (ynymy dy l[ μtwj) in the Jeremiah text, but that is not a feature in Haggai. In neither passage is the seal taken from one person and given to another, signalling the delegating of authority (in contrast to Gen 41,42; Esth 3,10; 8,2). As stated by Rose, “the oracle [in Hag 2,23] is not about God giving Zerubbabel a seal/signet ring to put on his finger, but about God making Zerubbabel like a seal/signet ring” 22. One has to conclude, says Rose, that either Haggai mishandled the imagery or the imagery was not meant to symbolise royal authority (in contrast to 1 Kgs 21,8). Seal imagery is used in the OT and the ANE to evoke the idea of BODA, Haggai, Zechariah, 163, n. 17. 17 See G.R. GOSWELL, “ For my eyes have seen the King”. Kingship, 18 Human and Divine, in the Book of Isaiah with Special reference to Isaiah Chapters 36-39 (unpublished PhD Dissertation; University of Sydney 2002) 86- 91. As noted by WOLFF, Haggai, 105, the verb μyc with an accusative and the 19 preposition b mean “to make [someone] the equivalent of [something]”. E . g . K.-M. B E Y S E , S e r u b b a b e l und die Königserwartungen der 20 Propheten Haggai und Sacharja. Eine historische und traditionsgeschichtliche U n t e r s u c h u n g (AzTh 48 ; Stuttgart 1972) 56-57, sees 2,20-23 as a reinterpretation of Jer 22,24, marking Zerubbabel as YHWH’S vice-regent (Vesir) ; K. SEYBOLD, “Die Königserwartung bei den Propheten Haggai und Sacharja ”, Judaism 28 (1972) 71, 72; G. SAUER, “Serubbabel in der Sicht Haggais und Sacharjas”, Das ferne und nahe Wort (FS L. ROST) (ed. F. MAAS) (Berlin 1967) 204. It does not need to be viewed as a rebuttal of Jeremiah’s prophecy — pace B. UFFENHEIMER “ Zerubabbel [sic]: The Messianic Hope of the Returnees”, JBQ 24 (1996) 224. For this paragraph, I acknowledge my substantial dependence upon 21 ROSE, Zemah and Zerubbabel, 218-238. ROSE, “Messianic Expectations”, 171 (addition mine). 22