SIGNATURE

In protesting his innocence before his three “companions” who were charging that sins against God were the cause for his suffering, Job presented evidence and argument as to his blamelessness. He called upon God to hear his case and give him an answer, saying: “O that I had someone listening to me, that according to my signature the Almighty himself would answer me! Or that the individual in the case at law with me had written a document itself!” (Job 31:35) Job here expressed willingness to present his case before God, affixing his own signature to it in attestation. The word “signature” is a translation of the Hebrew word taw, which is also the name of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

A signature was evidently an identifying mark (compare the use of taw at Ezekiel 9:4, 6), and may have been, at times, the impression of one’s signet ring or cylinder seal, or it may have been a written mark peculiar to the user, or one selected by him as an identification. The apostle Paul wrote a greeting in his own handwriting at the end of his letters as a “sign” of the letter’s authenticity as coming from Paul.—2 Thess. 3:17, 18.