2. The making and frame of it is declared, Exod. xxv. 17. In the Hebrew itis called capporeth, or cipporeth, from eaphar. The verb in Kal signifies “to cover,” “to pitch over,” and thereby to cover, Gen. vi. 14.. Thence is capporeth, “a cover- ing.” But this cépporeth is rendered by our apostle iAaorgpiov, a “ propitiatory,” a “mercy-seat;” as it is also by the LXX. some-, times, and sometimes by évidqjue, an “imposed covering.” But whereas, in allusion hereunto, the Lord Christ is said to be iAwory- prov, Rom. iti, 25; and idAaouwds, 1 John. ii. 2; that sense must be taken in, and so it is constantly rendered by our translation “the mercy-seat.” And in that sense it is derived from cipper in Pihel, which signifies “to remove or take away,” and consequently “to be propitious and merciful in taking away of sin;” as also “to appease,” “atone,” “reconcile,” and “purge,” whereby sin is taken away. See Gen. xxxii, 20, “to appease;” Prov. xvi. 14, “to pacify;” Ps. Ixy. 3, “to purge away,” applied to sin; Ps. lxxviil. 38, “to forgive iniquities;” Deut. xxi. 8, “to be merciful;” Ps. lxxix. 9, “to expi- ate.” Thence is “the day of expiation,’ the great day of fast unto the Jews. This is the fast which was said to be over, in the storm that Paul and his companions were in; for it was on the tenth day of the seventh month, about which season navigation is dangerous. Hence cipporeth is rendered iAworzpsoy, “a mercy-seat.” Yet if we
Keracuia- Covre.
To (Awornpioy.
f
VER. 3-5.] EPISTLE TO THK HEBREWS. 211
will have respect also unto the first sense of the verb, and its use in Exodus, we may render it “a covering mercy-seat.” The matter of this mercy-seat was of “pure beaten gold;” the measures of it exactly commensurate and answering unto that of the ark; “two cubits and an half the length of it, and a cubit and an half the breadth of it,” Exod. xxv. 10-16. As unto the use of it, it was put noyindio Prby, verse 21,—“ above upon the ark.” What was the thickness of it, there is no mention. The Jews say it was an hand- breadth; which is not likely. However, it was of considerable sub- stance; for the cherubim were beaten out of it, at its ends, verses 18, 19. For the situation and posture of it, some suppose that it was held in the hands of the cherubim, at a good distance from the ark. And the reason they give for this conjecture is, that so it did best represent a throne. The mercy-seat was as the seat of it, and the ark as the footstool; for so they say it is called when the church is in- vited to “worship at his footstool,’ Ps, xcix. 5. But this reason _ indeed everts the supposition which it was produced to confirm. For the ark and mercy-seat being exactly commensurate, and the one placed directly over the other, it could have no appearance of a footstool, which must be placed before the seat itself. ‘Nor is there any mention of the hands of the cherubim, as there is directly of their feet, in those made by Solomon. Nor is it probable they had any, but only wings instead of them; although those in Hzekiel’s _ vision, as they served the providence of God, had “the hands of a man under their wings,” chap. i. 8. Nor could it be called a cover- _ ing unto the ark, if it were at that distance from it, as this conceit
will make it to be. It was therefore laid immediately on the ark, so as the cherubim were represented to be above the throne; as the seraphim were in Isaiah’s vision, chap. vi. 2. It had, as we observed, the just dimension of the ark. But the ark had “a crown of gold round about” it; that is, on its sides and its ends, Exod. xxv, 11, xxxvil. 2. But this crown or fringe of gold was so placed on the outsides of it, that it diminished nothing of its proportion of two cubits and a half in length and a cubit and a half in breadth. Wherefore the mercy-seat being exactly of the same measure, it fell in upon it, on the inside of the border or crown of gold.
‘It remains only that we inquire whether it was itself the cover- ing of the ark, or whether the ark had a covering of its own, which it was placed upon. It is certain that the ark was open when the testimony, or tables of stone with the law written in them, was put into it. And there is no mention of the opening or shutting of it, how it should be closed and fastened when the tables were put into it. These things, I suppose, would not have been omitted, had it had a covering of its own. Besides, it is certain that this propitia- tory, and the cherubim belonging thereunto, were never to be sepa-
212 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. IX.
rated from the ark; and when the ark was removed and carried by the staves, they were carried upon it. This is evident from hence, because, whereas all the other golden utensils had rings and staves wherewith they were borne, these had none, but must be carried in the hands of men, if they were not inseparable from the ark. And when the men of Beth-shemesh looked into the ark, it doth not appear that they first took off the mercy-seat with the cherubim, and then brake up the covering of the ark; but only lifted up the mercy-seat by the cherubim, which opened the ark, and discovered what was therein, 1 Sam. vi. 19. I do judge, therefore, that this mercy-seat was the only covering of the ark above, falling in close within the crown of gold, exactly answering it in its dimensions. Out of this mercy-seat, of the same substance with it, and contiguous unto it, the cherubim being formed, their wings which were above, some distance from it, being turned towards it, did overshadow it, giving a representation of a glorious throne.