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Mercy seat

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For other uses, seeMercy seat (disambiguation).
Replica of the ark of the covenant, with the "mercy seat" (kaporet) acting as lid.

According to theHebrew Bible,thekaporet(Hebrew:כַּפֹּרֶתkapōreṯ) ormercy seatwas the gold lid placed on theArk of the Covenant,with twocherubimat the ends to cover and create the space in whichYahwehappeared and dwelled. This was connected with the rituals of theDay of Atonement.The term also appears in later Jewish sources, and twice in theNew Testament,from where it has significance inChristian theology.

Etymology[edit]

The etymology ofkaporet(Hebrew:הַכַּפֹּֽרֶת) is unclear.The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religionstates that "some translate simply 'cover'",[1]whilst others posit a different Hebrew[2]or foreign origin.[3]

In Judaism[edit]

In the Hebrew Bible[edit]

"The Ark and the Mercy Seat", 1894 illustration by Henry Davenport Northrop

According to the biblical account (Exodus 25:19;37:6), the cover was made from puregoldand was the same width and breadth as the ark beneath it, 2.5cubitslong and 1.5 cubits wide. Two goldencherubimwere placed at each end of the cover facing one another and the mercy seat, with their wings spread to enclose the mercy seat (Exodus 25:18–21). The cherubim formed a seat for Yahweh (1 Samuel 4:4). The ark and mercy seat were kept inside theHoly of Holies,the temple'sinnermostsanctuarywhich was separated from the other parts of the temple by a thick curtain (parochet).

The Holy of Holies could be entered only by thehigh prieston theDay of Atonement.The high priest sprinkled the blood of asacrificial bullonto the mercy seat as anatonementfor the sins of the people ofIsrael.

In rabbinic tradition[edit]

After the destruction of theSecond Temple,just as theTorah scrollwas contained in aTorah ark(Aron HaKodesh,"Holy ark" ) in synagogues, so also the termkaporetwas applied to thevalanceof theparochet(Hebrew:פרוכת‎ "curtain" ) on this ark.[a][5][b]

Second Temple era sources[edit]

In theHellenistic JewishSeptuagintthe term was renderedhilastērion(ἱλαστήριον, "thing that atones" ), following the secondary meaning of the Hebrewrootverb "cover" (כָּפַר‎kaphar) inpi'elandpu'alas "to cover sins," "to atone" found also inkippurim.Hilastērionis relatively rare in classical Greek and appears largely in late writings to reference a sacrifice to appease the wrath of a deity. The term in the Septuagint was translated in the LatinVulgateBible with the word propitiatorium from which we get our English word propitiation.

In Christian tradition[edit]

The mercy seat in the 1890 Holman Bible

In the New Testament[edit]

Hilastērionis found twice in the New Testament:Romans3:25 andHebrews9:5. In the passage in Romans the term is typically translated "propitiation" or "sacrifice of atonement," whereas in the passage in Hebrews the term is typically translated "mercy seat," the traditional term for the gold lid on theArk of the Covenant.The difference in translation is explained by the different contexts. In Romans the context is the sacrificial death of Christ, whereas in the Hebrew passage the context is a description of the Holy of Holies and its contents. The Epistle to the Hebrews portrays the role of the mercy seat during Yom KippurDay of Atonementas a prefiguration of thePassion of Christ,which was a greateratonement,and the formation of aNew Covenant(Hebrews 9:3–15). The Yom Kippur ritual was ashadow of things to come(Hebrews 10:1). The continual sacrifice for sin under the Mosaic covenant becameobsoletefollowing the once-for-all sacrificial death of Christ.

In English Bibles[edit]

The first English Bible, translated from Latin 1382, renders the term apropiciatoryfollowing theVulgatepropitiatorium,and in the first occurrence, Exodus 25:17, also inserts an unbracketed gloss "that is a table hiling the ark" –hilingisMiddle Englishfor "covering".[c][d]

The termpropitiatorywas also used byJ.M. Powis Smith,a Protestant, inThe Complete Bible: An American Translation,published in 1939. The originally Protestant translation "mercy seat" was not followed byRonald Knox,[9]but has since been largely adopted also byRoman CatholicBible versions,such as theNew Jerusalem Bible(NJB) 1985.[10]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ ... above theparokhet[curtain].InExodus25:17, thekaporetrefers to the slab of pure gold that covered the Ark...[4]
  2. ^ The art of the Torah Ark curtain (parochet) reached a peak during the first decades of the eighteenth century in Bavaria.... All the Bavarian curtains of this type seem to have had an upper valance (kaporet),...[6]
  3. ^ Hilen,
    v., to cover, bury, conceal;3 sg.hileb.hilinge,ger., "concealment".[7]
  4. ^ And thou schalt make a propiciatorie of clenneste gold; that is a table hilinge the arke; the lengthe therof schal holde twei cubitis and an half, the broodnesse schal holde a cubit and half.—Exodus 25:17,Wycliffe(1382)[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^Schwartz, Baruch J. (2011)."Kapporet(etymology) ".In Berlin, Adele (ed.).The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion.Oxford University Press. p. 67 § Ark of the Covenant.ISBN9780199730049.Retrieved25 March2019.
  2. ^Eberhart, Christian A."Kapporet".De Gruyter.doi:10.1515/ebr.kapporet.Retrieved2024-01-20.
  3. ^Isaacs, Roger D.; Hemmings, Adam R. (2023)."The" Mercy Seat "and the Ark of the Testimony: An Age-Old Misnomer?"(PDF).Studies of Biblical Interest.1(1): 11–20 – via Zenodo.
  4. ^Harlow, Jules, Rabbi(1977). "Jewish textiles in light of biblical and post-biblical literature". InKirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara;Grossman, Cissy (eds.).Fabric of Jewish Life: Textiles from the Jewish Museum collection.Vol. 1. New York, NY:Jewish Museum.p. 31.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^Ausubel, Nathan(1964).The Book of Jewish Knowledge.p. 19.The materials out of which the Ark curtain and its valance (kaporet) were made in former times is unknown.
  6. ^Fishof, Iris (1994).Jewish art masterpieces from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Jerusalem, IL:Muzeʼon Yiśraʼel.p. 40.
  7. ^de Gretham, Robert; Blumreich, Kathleen Marie (2002).The Middle English "Mirror"(based on Bodleian Library,... ed.). Oxford, UK:Bodleian Library,Oxford University.p. 533.
  8. ^Wycliffe, J.(1382)."Exodus".Wycliffe Bible.Wesley Center. Nampa, ID:Northwest Nazarene University.Chapter 25.
  9. ^"The Book of Exodus".cormacburke.or.ke.
  10. ^"Exodus".New Jerusalem Bible.Chapter 1.{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help)

External links[edit]

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