2. oom rahdmim, lit. ‘bowels,’ so fig. ‘ tender affection,’ ‘compassion’ ; LXX ἔλεος, οἰκτιρμοί, ete. ; Vulg. misericordia(@), miseratio, ete. ; also trans- lated in EV ‘compassion.’ The adj. on rahtim is rendered: LXX οἰκτίρμων, ete. ; vale! misericors, ete. ; EV ‘ merciful,’ ‘full of compassion.’ Corre- sponding translations are given of the Piel of the verb πη. These are used of man towards man, and of God towards man.
3. The verb }3n Ann, ‘to show favour,’ ‘do kind- ness,’ of man towards man, and of God towards man, and the adj. }35 Aannin, only of God towards man, are rendered by EV ‘ be merciful or gracious,’ ‘show mercy,’ ‘have pity,’ ‘merciful’; by LXX ἐλεέω, οἰκτείρω, ete. ; ἐλεήμων, οἰκτίρμων ; by Vulg. misereor, etc. ; clemens, misericors, ete.
4. In Gn 1916 ‘the Lord being merciful unto him’ is EV tr® of υἷι ma nbona. Son here rendered ‘be merciful’ is ‘spare,’ ‘have compassion’ (Oxf. Heb. Lex.); LXX usually ἐλεέω, φείδομαι ; Vulg. misereor, parco; elsewhere in EV ‘have pity.’ It is often parallel to on ‘pity,’ ‘look upon with compassion,’ 6... Ezk 7.3.
5. In Dt 218 32% ‘be merciful’ is the translation of 752, here = ‘clear,’ ‘treat as forgiven, and therefore as enjoying full favour.’ In these two passages LXX has ἵλεως γενοῦ (cf. below), éxxa- θαριεῖ, ‘purge’; Vulg. propitius esto, erit; RV ‘forgive,’ ‘make expiation.’
Il. New TresTAMEN'’T.—‘ Mercy, merciful, to be merciful, to show mercy,’ etc., are used in EV to translate the following :—1. ἔλεος, ἐλεήμων, ἐλεέω, ‘to be pitiful, compassionate.’ These terms are used both of God and man, and are not applied with any special frequency to God; so that in NT ἔλεος is a divine attribute, but no special emphasis is laid upon it. Its most common use with refer- ence to God is in the salutation χάρις, ἔλεος, εἰρήνη in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Ti 1*, 2 Ti 13, Tit 1*) and in 2 Jn®; ef. Jude?.
2. olkripuol, οἰκτίρμων, ‘compassion, -ate,’ not com- mon, but chiefly applied to God, Ro 12), 2 Co 1°, Lk 6%, Ja 54.
8, ἵλεως, ‘forgiving,’ He 8"; ἱλάσκομαι, ‘be pro- pitiated, forgive’; ἀνίλεως, ‘not forgiving’ (AV ‘without mercy’), Ja 2%,
Thus the chief OT terms which AV, and in a measure RV, translate most unsuitably by ‘ mercy,’ ascribe to God the following attributes : (a) tender compassion, rahdmim, ete., for man’s misery and Eainleeetinad (6) a disposition to deal kindly and generously with man, hanan, ete. ; (c) the divine affection and fidelity to man, on which man may confidently rely, as he would on the loyalty of his tribe or family, /esedh. Though these terms may include the ordinary sense of ‘ mercy,’ the ‘ sparing of a wrongdoer,’ and the context sometimes shows that they do include this meaning, the terms themselves do not suggest it. Hence the use of the word ‘mercy’ to translate them, represents
546 MERCY-SEAT
MERIBAH
—
' God in the OT as occupied with the position of Another account is also given (Ex 171:7) of water
man as a criminal, a rebel, and an enemy, to an extent entirely unwarranted by the original. Cf. Driver, Sermons on OT, 220 th, also Par. Psalt. 443 f., 447, and see preceding article.
The NT use of the corresponding terms is neither frequent nor characteristic, and is only a faint reflexion of OT teaching. The great ideas repre- sented in OT by rahdmim, hanan, hesedh, and their cognates, are mostly expressed in NT by other terms than ἔλεος, οἰκτιρμοί, etc. One might almost say that Aesedh covers the whole ground of χάρις, ἔλεος, εἰρήνη (but see Hort on 1 P 15), and implies the NT doctrine of the Divine Fatherhood.
The subject of ‘mercy,’ in its usual sense of ‘That benevolence, mildness, or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries or to treat an offender better than he deserves,’ is treated under ATONEMENT and FORGIVENESS. The qualities dealt with here are those which moved God to provide an atonement, but they describe God’s attitude to man, as man, and do not, except OT, 5, of themselves call attention to man’s sin.
W. H. BENNETT.
MERCY-SEAT.—See TABERNACLE.
MERED (17>; B Πῶραδ, A MGpad, Luc. Bapad).— A Judahite, 1 Ch 417, See BrrHIAn.
MERES (07> Mares, LXX om.).—One of the seven princes and counsellors of Ahasuerus (Est 1") ; ef. ADMATHA, With this name and with Marsena, Benfey (see Ges. Thes.) compares Sansk. mdrsha, Zend. meresh=‘ writing.’
MERIBAH (a3 ‘ strife’).—The word occurs b itself Ex 177, Ps 95%, and in both places Maal (which see)is also mentioned. Massah is rendered y LXX Iepacuds, Vulg. Tentatio, in both; Meri- bah of Ex 177 by LXX Λοιδόρησις, but omitted in Vulg. ; Meribah of Ps 957 by LXX παραπικρασμῷ, Vulg. irritatione, RV ‘as at Meribah as in the day of Massah,’ AV ‘in the provocation as in the day of com pieaun ’ [these are the only two places where Massah and Meribah occur. assah occurs with ‘waters of Meribah’ Dt 33°, and by itself twice Dt 6° 9%). The expression ‘ waters of Meribah’ is more common, occurring Nu 20%: 39. Dt 338, Ps 817 (Heb. 8] 10682, Meribah is in LXX ἀντιλογίας in all these places except Nu 20", which has λοιδορίας ; Vulg. has Contradictionis in all; RV has in these posses uniformly ‘waters of Meribah,’ while AV as ‘ waters of strife’ in Ps 106%.