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According to theHebrew Bible, thekaporet (Hebrew:כַּפֹּרֶתkapōreṯ) ormercy seat was the gold lid placed on theArk of the Covenant, with twocherubim at the ends to cover and create the space in whichYahweh appeared 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.
The etymology ofkaporet (Hebrew:הַכַּפֹּֽרֶת) is unclear.The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion states that "some translate simply 'cover'",[1] whilst others posit a different Hebrew[2] or foreign origin.[3]
According to the biblical account (Exodus 25:19;37:6), the cover was made from puregold and was the same width and breadth as the ark beneath it, 2.5cubits long and 1.5 cubits wide. Two goldencherubim were 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's innermostsanctuary which was separated from the other parts of the temple by a thick curtain (parochet).
The Holy of Holies could be entered only by thehigh priest on theDay of Atonement. The high priest sprinkled the blood of asacrificial bull onto the mercy seat as anatonement for the sins of the people ofIsrael.
After the destruction of theSecond Temple, just as theTorah scroll was contained in aTorah ark (Aron HaKodesh, "Holy ark") in synagogues, so also the termkaporet was applied to thevalance of theparochet (Hebrew:פרוכת "curtain") on this ark.[a][5][b]
In theHellenistic JewishSeptuagint the term was renderedhilastērion (ἱλαστήριον, "thing that atones"), following the secondary meaning of the Hebrewroot verb "cover" (כָּפַרkaphar) inpi'el andpu'al as "to cover sins," "to atone" found also inkippurim.Hilastērion is 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 LatinVulgate Bible with the word propitiatorium from which we get our English word propitiation.
Hilastērion is found twice in the New Testament:Romans 3:25 andHebrews 9:5. 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 Atonement as 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 becameobsolete following the once-for-all sacrificial death of Christ.
The first English Bible, translated from Latin 1382, renders the term apropiciatory following theVulgatepropitiatorium, and in the first occurrence, Exodus 25:17, also inserts an unbracketed gloss "that is a table hiling the ark" –hiling isMiddle English for "covering".[c][d]
The termpropitiatory was 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]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The materials out of which the Ark curtain and its valance (kaporet) were made in former times is unknown.
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