The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 237

within. It may, !1owcver, have been ovcrle.id e.n,: other scnso thnn that of covering. or f,,;· with thin plates of gold (a pmct,ice also known glv1ng ems. In this sense it iR nsf'd in t !11! in Egypt, nnd common olsowhere)-which is Old Testament some seventy times. Wh,,tl1<·r t.ho view t.nken hy the Jowish commentators. the mercy se1tt WllS the real cover of the ork ,.f The orown of gold wOB proh1thly o.a orna- the covenant, or whether th1tt had its own lid men tut moulding or edging round the top of of o.caci!L wood, 88 Kalisch supposes. is unePr- the chest. te.in. A_t o.ny rnte, it WM aot calle,l l,ipp,m11, Ver. 12.-:rour rings of gold. These rings becanse ,t was o. cover, but because it was a were to he fixed, not nt the upper, bnt at the seat of propitie.tion. On the importance of lowor oomera of tho chest, which a.re celled the mercy sent, as in some sort transcendirw pa'amoth, literally "feet" or "ha.Bes." The the e.rk itself, see Lev. xvi. 2, and 1 Ch; object WM, no doubt, that no po.rt of the chest xxviii. ll. Atonement was made by sprink- should come in contact with t11e persons of ling the blood of expiation upon it (Lev. the priests when carrying it (see ver. 14). xvi. 14, 15). Of pnre gold. Not of wo,,rl, As Ko.l.isch notes, " the smo.Ilness of the plated with mete.I, or richly gilt, bat of snlid dimensions of the ark rendered its safe trans- gold-an oblong slab, three feet nine inch"s portation, even with the rings o.t its feet, not long, two feet three inches wide, and pro ha bi y impossible." not less than e.n inch thick. The weight of Ver. 13.- Staves of shittim wood. Similo.r snch a sle.b would be above 750 lbs. trov, and staves, or poles, are to be seen in the Egyptian its value above 25,000!. of our money.' The sculptnres, attached to arks, thrones, and length and breadth were exactly those of the litters, o.nd resting on the shoulders of the ark itBelf, which the mercy seat thus exactly men who carry such objects. covered ( ver. 10). Ver. 14.-That the ark may be bome with Ver. 18.-Two cherubims. The form" che- them. The Hebrew ark was not me.de, like rubims," which onr translators affect, is ah- the Egyptian arks, for processions, and was normal e.nd indefensible. They should have never exhibited in the way of display, as they said either "cherubim," or "cherubs." The were. The need of carrying it arose from the exact shape of the Temple cherubim was kept fact, that the lsro.elites had not yet obtained a a profound secret among the Jews, so tbat permanent abode. As soon as Canaan was Josephus declares--" No one is able to state, reached, the ark had o. fixed loco.Iity assigned or conjectnre of whe.t form the cherubim were ., to it, though the locality was changed from ( Ant. Jud. viii. 3, § 3). That they were time to time (Josh. xviii. I ; I Sam. iv. 3; winged fignres appears from verse 28 of this vii. I ; 2 Sam. vi. 10, etc.) ; bnt in the desert chapter, while from other partB of Scripture it required to be moved each time that the we learn that cherubim might be of either congregntion changed its camping-gronnd. human or animal forms, or of the two com- Ver. 15.-The staves, when once inserted bined (Ezek. i. 5--14; x.1-22). These last into the rings of the ark, were never to be have been with some reason compared to the taken from them. The object probably was symbolical composite fignres of other nations, that there might be no need of tonching even the andro-sphinxes and crio-sphin."tes of the tho rings, when the ark was set down or taken Egyptians, the Assyrian winged bulls and up. The bearers took hold of the staves lions, the Greek chimame, and the griffins of only, which were no part of the ark. On the the northern nations. But it is doubtful de.nger of touching the ark itBelf, see 2 Sam. whether the cherubim of Moses were of this vi. 6, 7. che.racter. The most sober of recent inquirers Ver. 16.-The testimony which l will give (Bp. Harold Browne, Co.non Cook, Ku.lisch, thee, is undoubtedly the Deco.Iogue, or in other Keil), while admitting the point to be doubtful, words, the two tables of stone, written with come to the conclusion the.t they were in all the finger of God, and forming his testimony probability, "winged human fignres, with· ngo.inst sin. (Compare Deut. xxxi. 26, 27.) human face too." In this case their proto- Tho main intention of the e.rk was to be a re- type would seem to have been the wingeu pository· in which the two tables should be fignres of Me., the Goddess of Truth. fre- laid up. quently seen inside Egyptian arks, sheltering Ver. 17.-Thou shalt make a mercy seat. with their wings the scarabieus or other em- Modem exegesis has endeavoured to empty blem of the deity. (See Lepsius, Denkmiiler, the word kapporeth of its true meaning, wit- pt. iii. pl. H; Wilkinson in Rawlinson ·s ffrTo- nessed to by the Septuagint, as well as by the dotu, vol. ii. p. 85, 2nd edition; Smith's Dic- Epistle to the Hebrews (ix. 5). It tells us tionary of the Bibi,,, vol. i. p. S04.) Of beaten ihat a kapporeth is simply o. cover," being work shalt thou make them. Not ci1..St, i.,., derived from kaphaT, to cover,"-used in Gen. but hammered into shape (Lll. TupeuT<i. v. 14, with respect to covering the e.rk with The word" cherub" is thought to be deriveu pitch. But tho truth is th11t kapporeth is not from e.n Egyptian root, ka·rabu., signifying derived from k,iplu11·, but from kipper, the "to hammer" (SpeakeT's Ccmime-nlary, vol. iv Piel forw of the swue verb, which hllS n~ver p. 207). In the two ends. Rather, ii Frull!  TIIE •HOOK OF EXODUS. [f111. XXV. ]0-22,