Much is spoken of in the Old Testament Scripture concerning this sacred part of the temple, from whence the Lord promised to commune with his people. (Exod. xxv. 17, &c.) This, as a type of the Lord Jesus, is eminently to be regarded, since it serves to teach us, that by efficacy of redemption, the Old Testament saints, as well as New Testament believers, were alike included in the merits of "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev. 13. 8.)
The form of the mercy - seat, or propitiatory, was that of an ark, covered with gold, at the two ends of which were placed the cherubim to cover over the mercy - seat, from whence JEHOVAH was supposed to speak. (Ps. lxxx. 1.) The apostle Paul gives a short description of the tabernacle, and the furniture in it, (Heb. ix. 1, &c. - - and speaking of the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat, he saith, "of which we cannot now speak particularly." The Hebrews called the mercy - seat Caphoreth, from the word Caphar, to expiate orpardon. And very probably the church had this in view when she said: "My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire (copher) in the vineyards of Engedi." (Song i. 14.) If, as it is believed, that it is Christ she is then praising, with an eye to his propitiation, when she thus expressed herself, it is very striking and beautiful. Jesus is indeed the true and only propitiatory and propitiation; and what a sweet addition to the blessed subject is it, that he is "the propitiation whom God the Father hath set forth through faith in his blood!"So that our faith finds a double warrant - - first, in the completeness of the propitiation itself, and, secondly, in God’s appointment of it. And how can a soul come short of salvation that acts faith upon the infinite merits of God the Son’s righteousness, and the infinite faithfulness of God the Father’s grace? See propitiation.
The Hebrew name literally denotes a cover, and, in fact, describes the lid of the ark with cherubim, over which appeared ’the glory of God’ (Exo 25:17, sq.; 37:8; 31:7, and elsewhere) [ARK]. The word used in the Septuagint and New Testament to translate this term, signifies the ’expiatory’ or ’propitiatory,’ in allusion to that application of the Hebrew word which we have noted: which application is in this instance justified and explained by reference to the custom of the high-priest once a year entering the most holy place, and sprinkling the lid of the ark with the blood of an expiatory victim, whereby ’he made atonement for the sins of the people.’ As this was the most solemn and significant act of the Hebrew ritual, it is natural that a reference to it should be involved in the name which the covering of the ark acquired. By a comparison of the texts in which the word occurs, it will be seen that there would, in fact, have been little occasion to name the cover of the ark separately from the ark itself, but for this important ceremonial.
1Ch 28:11, the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, which see. The Hebrew word means a cover, but contains an allusion to the covering or forgiving of sins, Psa 32:1 . In the New Testament it is designated by a Greek word meaning "the propitiatory," or "expiatory," Heb 9:4,5 . It was approached only by the high priest, and not without the blood of atonement, to show that the divine mercy can be granted only through the blood of Christ, 1Ch 3:25 .\par
The holy of belies is called "the place of the mercy-seat" (1Ch 28:11; Lev 16:2), marking that it was not a mere subordinate part of the ark. The
Mercy-seat was the name of the lid or cover of the ark of the covenant. It was made of gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits broad, and two cherubs, also of gold, were placed one at each end, stretching their wings toward each other, and forming a kind of throne, upon which God was believed to be present in a peculiar manner to hear and answer prayer, and to make known his holy will. Exo 25:17-22; Exo 30:6; Exo 31:7; Exo 37:6-9; 1Ch 28:11; 2Ch 5:7-8; Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1. Before and upon the mercy-seat the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sin-offerings on the day of atonement as a propitiation, Lev 16:11-16, which, under the new dispensation, received its fulfillment. Heb 9:5; Rom 3:25.
This was made of pure gold and covered the ark. Two cherubim were also made of pure gold and were of one piece with the mercy seat. The faces were inwards, towards the covenant that was contained in the ark. God said to Moses, "I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony." The place for the mediator to receive divine communications from God, and for the high priest to approach with the blood of atonement, was the mercy seat. It is typical of Christ, the same word being used in the N.T. for the mercy seat in the tabernacle and for the Lord Himself, "whom God hath set forth to be a mercy seat,"
Blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat once a year on the day of atonement. This Aaron "offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:" typical of Christ entering into heaven, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb 9:7; Heb 9:12. The veil of the temple being rent, God has come out in grace, and man in the person of Christ has gone in, and the Christian is exhorted to come at all times boldly to the throne of grace that he may find grace to help in time of need. Exo 25:17-22; Exo 26:34; Exo 30:6; Exo 31:7; Exo 35:12; Exo 37:6-9; Exo 39:35; Exo 40:20; Lev 16:2-15; Num 7:89; 1Ch 28:11.
MERCY SEAT.—See Tabernacle, § 7 b.
An oblong piece of solid gold, 212 by 112 cubits (about 30 by 18 inches), which was placed over the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:37). At both ends were two cherubim of beaten gold facing each other, and their faces bent downward towards the propitiatory; their wings overshadowed the oracle. The propitiatory was the most sacred object of the Hebrew worship; it was looked upon as the throne of Jehovah who, from above the propitiatory, from between the cherubim, spoke to Moses and issued His commands to the children of Israel. Before the exile, when the high priest entered the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement, he sprinkled with his finger towards the oracle the blood of the bullock and of the he-goat offered in sacrifice on that day (Leviticus 16).
(ἱëáóôÞñéïí, propitiatorium)
The mercy-seat was the cover of the Ark (q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.] ) of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. It was sprinkled with the blood of the victim slain on the annual Day of Atonement (Heb_9:5). ‘Mercy-seat’ is admitted on all hands to be an imperfect translation of the Greek word, being rather, like Luther’s Gnadenstuhl, equivalent to èñüíïò ôῆò ÷Üñéôïò (Heb_4:16). It is also frequently contended that ἱëáóôÞñéïí, which is the Septuagint rendering of ëַּôֹּøָú, is itself a mistake. In the view of Rashi and Kimchi, followed by many Christian scholars, the Heb. word means no more than a literal ‘covering’ (so Revised Version margin in Exo_25:17, etc.). Ritschl maintains that in both the OT and the NT ἱëáóôÞñéïí designates ‘the piece of furniture over the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies’ (Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung3, ii. [1889] 168). Nowack (Heb. Archäologie, 1894, ii. 60 f.) also gives the word a material sense, regarding it, however, as denoting a kind of penthouse (Schutzdach, Deckplatte) for the ark. But the analogy of the Arabic kaffârat seems to justify Lagarde (and many others) in holding (1) that the Septuagint has rendered the original quite accurately, and (2) that ἱëáóôÞñéïí means ‘the propitiating thing,’ or ‘the propitiatory gift.’ Wherever the word is used by Philo (de Vit. Mos. iii. 8, de Profug. 19, de Cherub. 8, etc.) this is the meaning indicated by the context, and recently discovered inscriptions (W. R. Paton and E. L. Hicks, The Inscriptions of Cos, 1891) prove that ἱëáóôÞñéïí ordinarily bore this sense in the early Imperial period (cf. Dio Chrysostom, Or. xi. 355 [Reiske]).
With such a connotation the word lies at the heart of St. Paul’s gospel (Rom_3:25). When he depicts Christ Jesus as set forth to be a ἱëáóôÞñéïí (or his word may be an adj., ἱëáóôÞñéïò), it is scarcely possible that he conceives the Messiah as a ‘mercy-seat,’ or ‘covering of the ark,’ sprinkled with blood-His own blood. The figure is inappropriate and unintelligible. But the Apostle’s thought is at once apparent and impressive if he represents Christ as a Propitiatory. The exact shade of meaning which may thereafter be detected in the word-whether ‘the means of propitiating,’ or ‘the propitiatory gift,’ or ‘the propitiatory One’-is of less importance. What is essential is the large and luminous idea of atonement. The Pauline teaching and the Johannine are here in agreement, each emphasizing the same central thought. Christ as the ἱëáóôÞñéïí (propitiatory) is the ἱëáóìüò (propitiation) for our sins (1Jn_2:2).
Literature.-P. de Lagarde, Uebersicht über die im Aram., Arab. und Heb. übliche Bildung der Nomina, Göttingen, 1889; H. Cremer, Bibl.-theol. Wörterbuch8, Gotha, 1895, p. 474 ff.; G. A. Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. translation , 1901, p. 124 ff., also article in Encyclopaedia Biblica .
James Strahan.
Exo 25:17 (a) Here we see a type of the Lord JESUS CHRIST in Whom centers all the mercy of GOD and through Whom we receive mercy from GOD. He is called the "propitiation" in Rom 3:25 which is understood to be the same as the mercy seat. The expression "mercy seat" means "propitiatory." We come to the Lord JESUS, both as our High Priest, and also as our Mercy Seat, that we may confess our failures and receive again the cleansing of the precious Blood. Mercy abounds there. Mercy meets the needs and requirements of justice.