Exodus 25:17

a mercy-seat or, if the word could be revived, a propitiatory. This was a slab of gold, of the same length and breadth as the ark, and laid upon its top. The term mercy-seatwas used first by Tindale (1530), being adopted by him from Luther's Gnadenstuhl(1523). The Heb. is kappôreth, formed from kipper, to make propitiation(see on Exodus 30:10), and meaning properly a propitiating thing, or means of propitiation(LXX. mostly ἱλαστήριον [so in Philo, EB.iii. 3032, and Hebrews 9:5]; Vulg. propitiatorium, whence Wyclif's rend. the -propitiatory"). It is true, the blood was the actual means of propitiation in the Lev. system (Leviticus 17:11); but the term may have been applied to the -mercy-seat" on account of its being the means of bringing the blood as near as possible to Jehovah on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:14 f.). Covering(RVm.), or cover, though adopted by many modern scholars (cf. LXX. here [not elsewhere] ἱλαστήριον ἐπίθεμα, a -propitiatory coveror lid"), is a questionable rend.: for though kafarameans to coveror concealin Arabic, kâpharin Heb., if-cover" is its primary meaning (which is very doubtful: see on Exodus 30:10), means to -cover" not in a literal sense, but always in a metaph. sense (by a gift, offering, or rite). See further on the word (and also on its Greek rend. ἱλαστήριον, both in LXX. and in Romans 3:25) Deissmann's full and interesting art. Mercy-seat in EB.

The special sanctity of the kappôrethwas due naturally to the fact that Jehovah was regarded as speaking, or appearing, immediately above it (v.22, Leviticus 16:2; Numbers 7:89); and so it is spoken of poetically as His footstool(Psalms 99:5; Psalms 132:7; 1 Chronicles 28:2). Outside P it is mentioned by name only in 1 Chronicles 28:11.