merely to gratify their selfish demand. (Matt. 12:38; 16:1) Rather, he told them that the only sign that would be given them was “the sign of Jonah the prophet.” (Matt. 12:39-41; 16:4) After about three days in the belly of a huge fish Jonah had gone and preached to Nineveh. Jonah thereby became a “sign” to the capital of Assyria. Jesus’ generation had the “sign of Jonah” when Christ spent parts of three days in the grave and was resurrected. In this Christ was a sign to that generation, but even that did not convince most of the Jews.—Luke 11:30; 1 Cor. 1:22.

SIGN OF CHRIST’S PRESENCE

Shortly before Jesus’ death his apostles asked him: “What will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?” (Matt. 24:3; Mark 13:4; Luke 21:7) There were distinct differences between this question and the requests for a sign that the religious leaders had made. While right there, able to see him and his works, those leaders would not accept him as Messiah and king-designate. (John 19:15) Once they asked for a sign “to tempt him” (Luke 11:16); also some may have been infected with idle curiosity about Jesus’ signs, as was Herod. (Luke 23:8) Quite the opposite, the disciples who asked about the sign of Christ’s presence already accepted him as Messiah and King. (Matt. 16:16) But Jesus had said that the Kingdom was “not coming with striking observableness.” (Luke 17:20) Consequently (though the apostles mistakenly believed that the Kingdom would be established on earth [Acts 1:6]), they did not want to be like the Jewish leaders when the Kingdom should arrive—blind to Jesus’ presence. Accordingly, they asked, not for a miraculous sign to be performed right there, but what the future identifying sign would be.

In response Jesus described a composite “sign,” one made up of many evidences, including wars, earthquakes, persecution of Christians and a preaching about the Kingdom. (Matt. 24:4-14, 32, 33) The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple was under consideration when the disciples asked Jesus for the “sign” (Luke 21:5-7), and his reply gave prophecies that applied to Jerusalem and Judea, that were fulfilled during their lifetime. (Luke 21:20; Matt. 24:15) But his answer also dealt with the establishment of the kingdom of God and its effects on all mankind.—Luke 21:31, 35.

“Sign of the Son of man”

On that occasion Jesus said to his disciples: “And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matt. 24:30; Luke 21:27) Just before this comment he had spoken of the prophet Daniel. (Matt. 24:15; Dan. 9:27; 11:31) And from the expression Jesus here used it is evident that he was now referring back to Daniel 7:13, 14, where the vision depicted “with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man” gaining access to the “Ancient of Days” and receiving a ‘kingdom that will not be brought to ruin.’ This linked the “sign of the Son of man” with the time when Jesus would be given Kingdom power. Jesus applied the expression “Son of man” and the prophecy at Daniel 7:13, 14 to himself.—Matt. 26:63, 64; Mark 14:61, 62.

About 96 C.E., twenty-six years after the destruction of Jerusalem, John wrote about things that would take place in the future, and he saw in vision Jesus Christ “coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him.” (Rev. 1:1, 7) Hence, both this statement about something that was to take place after 96 C.E. and what Christ said about the “sign of the Son of man” referred to Jesus as coming in the clouds and as being seen by all people. (See CLOUD.) It should be noted, however, that while the Greek verb ho·raʹo, “to see,” used at Matthew 24:30 and Revelation 1:7, can mean literally to “see an object, behold,” it can also be used metaphorically, of mental sight, to “discern, perceive.”—A Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell and Scott (Ninth ed., p. 1245a).

For a comparison of “miracles,” “portents” and “signs,” see MIRACLES; PORTENT.

SIGNAL

This commonly translates the Hebrew word nes. (NW, RS) The term appears to denote a stationary pole or stake occupying an elevated site and is used both literally and figuratively. Hence, it does not denote a signal for sending messages, such as a “smoke signal” (Judg. 20:38, 40) or a “fire signal” (Jer. 6:1), for which other Hebrew words are used. Rather, such a pole could serve as a rallying point to which people or armies could assemble themselves. (Isa. 5:26; 13:2; 18:3; 30:17; 31:9; Jer. 4:6, 21; 50:2; 51:12, 27; compare Psalm 60:4, NW, 1957 ed., ftn. a.) For example: When the Israelites on one occasion complained about manna and the lack of water. Jehovah punished them by sending poisonous serpents among them. After the Israelites manifested repentance, Jehovah instructed Moses to fashion a serpent and to place it upon a signal pole (nes). “Moses at once made a serpent of copper and placed it upon the signal pole; and it did occur that if a serpent had bitten a man and he gazed at the copper serpent, he then kept alive.” (Num. 21:5-9) Evidently this signal pole stood in a fixed location and was doubtless on an elevated place so that it was visible to the Israelites who had been bitten by serpents.

Similarly, in 537 B.C.E., Jerusalem (foretold to be rebuilt) became the signal that beckoned the Jewish remnant to leave the lands to which they had been dispersed and to return to the then desolated Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. (Isa. 11:11, 12; compare Isaiah 49:22; 62:10, 11.) The prophecy, however, is not limited to this sixth-century application. Isaiah 11:10 reads: “And it must occur in that day that there will be the root of Jesse that will be standing up as a signal for the peoples.” The apostle Paul applied these words to Christ Jesus, the one who would rule nations. (Rom. 15:8, 12) Also, Jesus spoke of himself as the ‘root of David’ the son of Jesse. (Rev. 22:16) Accordingly, the signal is Christ Jesus as reigning king standing on heavenly Mount Zion.—Compare Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 14:1.

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.

SIHON

(Siʹhon).

An Amorite king at the time Israel approached the Promised Land. Sihon’s kingdom at one time extended from the torrent valley of Jabbok, where it bordered King Og’s domain, down at least to the torrent valley of Arnon, and from the Jordan River eastward toward the desert. His capital city was Heshbon, E of the northern end of the Dead Sea. (Num. 21:23, 24; Josh. 12:2, 3) Sihon had seized the