5. Kipper is u-^ed in three applications, which it is nece-^sary to distinguish, (la) A human sub- ject is the agent, and the object was originally, it seems, the face of the ollended person, though, in actual usage, it is mostly the oifended person (or persoiiilied agency) himself ; the means is a gift, an entreaty, conciliatory behaviour, etc. The most primary example of this application appears to occur in Gn 3'J-" i^'* (J), where Jacob says of Esau, ' I will cover his face with a present,' i.e. conciliate him (© i^Aiaoiuu), the figure being that of a person whose eyes are blinded by a gift so as not to notice something (cf. for the figure, Gn 20"" C'J'V mo? ; Ex 23* D'njs tj;; ^^i.••,^ -j ; Job 9'-" 'j? .19;; n-E^p). Hence, 'face' being omitted, kijip,-r acquires the general sense of to conciliate, jtru- pilirite, ap])cnse : Ex 32** ' peradventure I shall make propitiation (■t:?:k) for your sin' (viz. bv intercession, v.'"- ; (5 i^iXiauimi repl), fig. Pr 16''' (of a king's wrath, threatening death) 'but a wise man will pro/titiate it' (viz. by conciliatory be- haviour ; 6 i^i\d(rrrou), Is 47" (of calamity) ' thou shalt not be able to propitiate it ' (|| n-irnji ' to charm it away ' ; but Griitz, Buhl, Choyne, airs' ' to bribe it away,' cf. I'r G" Heb.), viz. either by a bribe (Is 13") or by religious ceremonies.
6. Here may be best explained the sub.st. kopher, prop, a covering (viz. of an ofhmccO, hence a pro- pitiatory gift, but restricted by usage to a gift oirend to propitiate or satisty the avenger-of- blood, and so the satisfaction ojjered for a life, i.e. a ran.iom, — the wehrgeld, ' protection - money,' rigorously prohibited by Hebrew law in the case of murder, but admitted in certain other cases, and evidently a well-known institution: Ex 21^ (JE); 1 S 12' (a bribe to screen a murderer; so Am 5'-) ; Ex 30" F (a half-shekel, to be paid by every one, at the time of a census, as the ^v-:} i;r, or ' ransom of his soul (life),' to avert a plague, — such as might be apprehended [cf. 2 S '21] under the circumstances: cf. § U h) ; Nu 35"'- I' (not to
• Except indeed Is 281**, where — unless, with some modems, i5n^ or ISH] (from nnp ; cf. 24*^) is to be read— it is used of annuiliiuj a treaty ((g «9iX*i ; EV 'be disannulled') — a sense which may bo derived either from the idea of covering over, obtitercuing (Ges.), or from that of viping or blotting out (of. Peab. "^s^ni ' be wiped out '). VOL. IV. — 9
be accepted from a murderer) ; Pr 6" (ofi'ered in vain for the life of an adulterer; ||' bribe'); 13' ('the ransom of a man's soul (life) is his riches'); 21'" ('the wicked is a ransom for the righteous' [see 11*]); Is 43^ (Egypt said poetically to be the ' ransom,' which J" gives to Cyrus in lieu of Israel : II 'Seba instead of thee') ; Ps 49' ('no man can re- deem ['^^'^ a brother from death, or give God a kopher for him ') ; tig. of the discipline of suliering (conceived as delivering from death), Job 3.3^ (II ' redeem him [read 'm?] from going down into the pit'), 3G"*[all].
7. This use of kopher illustrates 2 S 21'. Hero David says to the representatives of the murderea Gibeonites, ' Wherewith shall I make propitiation (15;!;; (5 ^iiXdo-w/ioi)?' a moiiej' kopher is refused jv.'), and the kiiplier, which (though the word is not actually used) is demanded, and given to J' (v.""; cf. v.' 24'), consists of the lives of Saul's seven sons: comp. also Nu 35^ (P), where it is said that blood unjustly shed 'profanes' and 'defiles' a land, and that a ' covering,' or propitiation, can- not then be made for the land (nsp; n'^ j"in^ ; ® ovk e^iXaadrjaerai 7) yrj diri toO oi'/iaros), except by the blood of the murderer.
S. There is an analogous group of cases, (16) in which the verb is in the passive voice, the subject being the iniquit}', and the means a purifying rite, a sacrifice, or repentance, the ell'ect of which is that the olVence is conceived as hidden, cancelled, or made inoperative : Dt 21*'' (' and the blood shall be "covered" {i.e. annulled)' for them,' viz. Iw the symbolical execution of the murderer, vv.*- ' ; (5 {ii.\a<rBr)<nTai oiW-ois), IS 3" ('the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be " covered " t (© iiiKaa- B-fjaerai.) by sacrifice or minliah for ever'). Is 6' ('thy sin sli.all be " covered " t,' viz. by the coal from the altar touching the prophet's lijis ; (S irepi- Ka.ea.pi.ei : II ' thine iniquity shall depart '), 22'* (' Surely tliis iniquity shalfnot be "covered" t for you, until ye die': (S atpee-naerat), 27" t (through the abandonment of idolati-y ; © a<pa.ipe9-/iaerai), Pr 10"! (through amendment of life; (!5 airoKa- ealpovrai. : cf. 2S'^^ Ezk IS'-'- ■'). J
9. (2) In the second class of cases in which kipper is used, the subject is God, the object is either the oflender or the olfence, the question of means does not here arise, but the motive, in so far as it is indicated, is the free grace of God, — repre- sented, however, sometimes as called into activity by a purifying or expiatory rile : the idea of the verb then is that God 'covers,' i.e. treats as covered, overlooks, pardons, condones, the oflender or the ofience. So (a) the object being the ojfcndcr, Dt 21*" (J", after the symbolical expiatory rite, vv.'-', is entreated to ' cover' [AV ' be merciful to," UV 'forgive'; (5 '/Xfws yevou] the people, guilty [implicitly] of an untraced murder), 3'2" (rather dillcrently: 'will "cover" his land,' i.e. cancel or remove the stain of bloodshed attaching to it, by the slaughter of those who have shed it ; (S /xKa- eapiei; AV 'be merciful unto,' IIV 'make expiation for': II 'avenge the blood of his servants, and re- quite vengeance to his adversaries'), Ezk 16"° ('when I "cover" thee {i.e. act proi)itiou3ly to- wards thee; (S if tv i^CKiaaaOal p-i <roi), wilh regard to all that thou hast done'), 2 Ch SO'" (EV 'par- don' ; (5 iiCKiaOu virip) ; and (6) the object being the offence, Jer 18^ (EV ' forgive' ; 05 aOviu), I's Go's ((5 iMtrvris d<re8das), 78'»(' annulleth inicmity and destroyeth not ; (5 IXdaerot raU dp.. ), 79" §