What kind of animal was the biblical seal?
The biblical seal was a sea animal, hairless, and not the North American badger. Its skin served as the outermost covering of the tabernacle because it could withstand the extreme Sinai weather—heat, wind, and rain—though it was not pretty in appearance.
Les explains that the King James Version calls this covering badger, but in the biblical sense it was a seal—a sea animal, hairless, whose skin could withstand the extreme weather of the Sinai: the heat of the sun, the wind, and the rain. He notes it was not pretty in appearance. It was the outermost layer over the tabernacle frame, after the goat’s hair and the ram skins dyed red.