The verb (Xe^u is found in a similar sense in Ro 915. 16 iis«.32^ 2 Co 41, 1 Ti V- '«, 1 P 2'". It is also found of the mercy of man towards his fellow (Ro 12", 1 Co 7^, Ph 2-').
oiKTip/xdt also means ' compassion,' ' pity,' ' mercy,' and with the adj. oiKTippLwv and the verb oiKreipu) is used both of God's compassion for men and of men's compassion for one another. In the NT olKTipiids is mostly used in the plural, conformably to the Heb. O'cq-i, which it translates in the LX^. Cf., for oiKTi.pij.6s with reference to God, Ro 12', He 10-8. In 2 Co P God is called 'the Father of mercies.' olKnp/xds is used of human pity in Col 3'- ; cf. olKTlpfiwv (of God) Ja 5", oiKreipa (of God) Ro 9'».
In the sub-apostolic wtI tings the usage is parallel. 1 Clem, is specially fond of both tXeos and oiKTipp.d$ (cf. ix. 1, xviii. 2, xxii. 8, xxviii. 1, 1. 2, Ivi. 5, xx. 11, Ivi. 1). In Polyc. Phil, we have 'mercy ' (tXeos) and ' peace ' in the introduction.
In conclusion, it may be pointed out that the doctrine of the Divine mercy is an OT rather than a NT doctrine. In the OT it is represented by the ascription to God of the following at- tributes : '(a) tender compassion, rahilmim, etc., for man's misery and helplessness; (b) a disposition to deal kindly and gener- ously with man, hanan, etc. ; (c) the divine affection and fidelity to man, on which man may confidently rely, as he would on the loyalty of hie tribe or family, he^edh' (W. H. Bennett in HDB iii. 345). Bennett points out that the NT use of the correspond- ing terms is neither frequent nor characteristic, and is only a faint reflexion of OT teaching. 'The great ideas represented in OT by rahdmiin, Jianan, lie^edh, and their cognates, are mostly expressed in NT by other terms than cAeos, otKrtpiioi, etc. One might almost say that hefedh covers the whole ground of
3 apis, eXeo?, fiprjyr] (but see Hort on 1 P 12), and implies the N'T octrine of the Divine Fatherhood."
Literature.— H. Cremer, Bibl.-Theol. Lexicon of NT Greeks, Eng. tr., 1880, p. 248 f. ; W. H. Bennett in HDD iii. 345 f.
R. S. Frank.?. MERCY-SEAT (IXaar^pioy, propitiatorium).—The mercy-seat was the cover of the Ark {g.v.) of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. It was sprinkled with the blood of the victim slain on the annual Day of Atonement (He 9°). 'Mercy-seat' is adniitteil on all hands to be an imperfect translation of the Greek word, being rather, like Luther's Gnnden- stuhl, equivalent to 6p6vos t^s ;;(dpiTot (He 4'*). It is also frequently contended that Waa-T-tipiov, which is the LXX rendering of n-isj, is itself a mistake. In the view of Rashi arid Kimchi, followed by many Christian scholars, the Heb. word means no more than a literal ' covering ' (so RVm in Ex 25", etc.). Ritschl maintains that in both the OT and the NT iXoffTiJpiof designates ' the piece of furniture over the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies '
30
MESOPOTAIVIIA
METAPHOR
(Beehtfertigung und Versohnung^, ii. [1889] 168). Nowack {Heb. An-hnologie, 1894, ii. 60 f.) also gives the word a material sense, regarding it, how- ever, as denoting a kind of ]>enthouse (Scliutzdach, Deckplatte) for the ark. But the analogy of the Arabic kaffarat seems to justify Lagarde (and many others) in holding (1) that the LXX has rendered the original quite accurately, and (2) that IXauTTiptov means ' the propitiating thing,' or ' the Iiropitiatory gift.' Wherever the word is used bv Philo {de Vit. Mos. iii. 8, de Profug. 19, de Cherub. 8, etc.) this is the meaning indicated by the con- text, and recently discovered inscriptions ( \V. K. Paton and E. L. Hicks, T/te Inscriptions of Cos, 1891) prove that IXacrx^^io/' ordinarily bore this sense in the early Imperial period (cf. Dio Chrys- ostom. Or. xi. 355 [Reiske]).
With such a connotation the word lies at the heart of St. Paul's gospel (Ko 3^). When he depicts Christ Jesus as set forth to bo a IKaar-qpiov (or his word may be an adj., iXaimi/jios), it is scarcely possible that he conceives the Messiah as a 'mercy-seat,' or 'covering of the ark,' sprinkled with blood — His own blood. The figure is inap- propriate and unintelligible. But the Apostle's thought is at once apparent and impressive if he represents Christ as a Propitiatory. The exact shade of meaning which may thereafter be detected in the word — whether ' the means of propitiating,' or 'the propitiatory gift,' or 'the propitiatory One ' — is of less importance. What is essential is tlie large and luminous idea of atonement. The Pauline teaching and the Johannine are here in agreement, each emphasizing the same central thought. Christ as the IXaarTipiov (propitiatory) is the I\ai7fi6s (propitiation) for our sins (1 Jn 2^).
LiTKRATURB. — P. de Lagrarde, Uebersichtiiber dieira Aram., Arab, und Heb. iibliche Bild-ung der Nomina, Gottingen, 18S9 ; H. Cremer, Bibl.-theol. W&rterbuch^, Gotha, 1895, p. 474 fl. ; G. A. Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. tr., 1901, p. 124 S., also art.
in EBi. James Steahan.
MESOPOTAMIA.— Mesopotamia is referred to in Ac 2', where it is evidently the well-known district between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris with which the name is generally associated, and also in Ac 7-, where it is roughly parallel with ' the land of the Chaldaeans ' in v.*. The name 'Meso- potamia' represents the Hebrew Aram-Naharaim in the OT, which is usually rendered ' Aram of the two rivers,' but is more correctly Aram Naharhn or Naharin, i.e. ' Aram of the river-lands ' (EBi i. 287). Mesopotamia reached, on the north, to the plains beneath the Masius range of hills. To the south its limits were about where Babylonia begins, at the so-called Median Wall, which runs from a little below Is (Hit), on the Euphrates, to a point just above Opis (Kadisiya), on the Tigris. It thus formed a deep triangle with the apex to the south and the base along the foot of the northern moun- tains. The country fell steadily from 1,100 ft. in the north to 65 ft. at its southern extremity, and consisted for the most part of a single open stretch of steppeland.