14. 'I'lie effect of the kappara is a purification, sometimes from sin, sometimes (Lv 12. 14. 15, Nu 6) from merely ceremonial defilement, sin being re- garded as a stain, and the defilement, whether ritual or moral — for in P the two are not clearly distin- guished (see Law, vol. iii. p. 72* ; and cf. Sclimoller, 280) — being conceived as either made invisible and inoperative, or else as actually obliterated ; it is regarded as withdrawn from Jehovah's eyes (cf. Ps 61" ; and contrast 00*) ; it no longer comes be- tween Him and man : He neither sees nor imputes it. The aim of tlie priestly legislation is to main- tain the ideal lioliness of the theocratic community (Law, ib. p. 70 f.) ; and the kappara is the primary means by which this is effected. Sometimes cleans- ing (moral or ceremonial) is expressly mentioned as the effect of the rite (see § 12 c ; and note esp. Lv le" 'on this day shall propitiation be made for you to cleanse you ; from all your sins ye sluM be clean before J ). As prescribed for the priests (Ex 29», Lv 9') and Levites (Nu 8^'). before admis-
* The cxtim-leg&l panage, 1 8 3" (i 8), Is not evidence of the Uau uaodated witb kipptr Id the ocremoniiU system o( P.
sion to their sacred duties, it is a readily intelli- gible rite of preliminary lustration (Riehm, 7G f. ; SchmoUer, 234 f., 245). Enjoined for a material object, the altar or the sanctuary, its aim is to secure or maintain its holiness : the altar, prior to its consecration, is regarded as affected by the natural impurity of human workmanship, which has to be removed ; the sanctuary, frequented as it was by a sinful and unclean people, is contami- nated by their sins, and accordinglj' requires a periodical purification (Riehm, 54-57 ; SchmoUer, 221 f., 242, 202) ; the leprous house (Lv 14") is con- ceived as tainted by sin (§ 12 c) ; the ' scape-goat,' offered by the sinful people, requires to be purified before it can discharge the solemn functions assigned to it (Riehm, 55 ; Dillm. ; etc.). On the part of God the efi'ect of the kappara is more par- ticularly specified, — at least in the sin- and guilt- otl'ering, — as forgiveness, — conditional, as we may suppose would be understood by the more spiritual Israelites, on the penitence of the oU'erer, though this is not stated in the laws as distinctly and regularly as might be expected (cf. Lv 5° 16-', Nu 5'; Schultz, Of T/teol. ii. 99 f.): it should, how- ever, in this connexion be remembered tliat kapper was in general possible only for unintentional {or venial) sins * (above, vol. L 201'' note ; Schultz, i. 382 f., 388 f., 394 f., ii. 87-89: cf. Ezk 45^, where ' erreth ' = sins inadvertently). Sins committed wil- fully, ' with a high hand' (Nu 15*"*), i.e. in a spirit of presumptuous defiance, challenging God's anger, lie outside the sphere within which the kappara ordinarily operates ; hence, as predicated of the regular Levitical sacrifices, it is never described as appeasing God (cf. § 2 end), nor is it ever implied that the offerer of such a sacrifice is outside God's dispensation of grace, or the object of His wrath ; the cases § 11 j k are exceptional; at most (§ 11 A t /) it may be said to be a means of averting it (Rielim, 30, 37, 85; AT T/teol. 132; cf. Schultz, i. 394).
15. From what has been said, it will be seen that kipper is a difficult word to represent satis- factorily in English. 'Cover' — or 'wipe out,' if that view of the original sense of the word be adopted — is too colourless : ' make atonement ' (at-one-ment, reconciliation) may express a con- sequence of kipper, but it is not what the word itself denotes. It has always — or almost always — a religious, and mostly a ritual colouring : it is to cover (metaphorically) by a gift, offering, or rite, or (if God be the subject) to treat as covered : the ideas associated with the word are thus to jnake (or treat) as luirmlcss, non-existent, or inoperative, to annul (so far as God's notice or regard is con- cerned), to withdraw from God's sight, with the attached ideiis of reinstating in His favour, free- ing from sin, and restoring to holiness, — especially (but not exclusively), when the subject is a human agent, by the species of sacrifice called the 'sin- offering.' It is a stronger, more significant syno- nym of N?n to ' un-sin,' and V15 to ' purify or ' cleanse.' There appears to be no one English word which combines, or suggests, ideas such as these. Even to ' make propitiation ' accentuates some- what unduly a particular side, or aspect, of what is involved in kipper (cf. § 1 end) ; though the fact that the ideas just indicated were associated with the word in conjunction with a rite, would point rather naturally in tlie direction of such a mean- ing, which the nearly habitual rendering of the LXX, {ii)i\d(rKotuu, shows was felt to attach to the word in the 3rd cent. D.C. Nevertlieless, esp. in view of the LXX, and NT l\a<rnSs, this is on the whole the best rendering of k-ipper in ita ritual sense, the cases grouped under §§ 8, 9 being represented, for consistency, by deal propitiously • See, however, Lv 6»-' Wm, Nu 6M.