According to the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, the
mercy seat was an object which rested upon the
Ark of the CovenantThe Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
, and was connected with the rituals of
Yom KippurYom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
; the term also appears in the
Pauline EpistlesThe Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...
, and has a significance in
Christian theology- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
. The phrase
mercy seat is not a translation of the
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
term
kapporeth, which appears in its place in the
Masoretic textThe Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
, nor of the
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
term
hilasterion, which takes the same place in the
Septuagint, but instead is the translation by
William TyndaleWilliam Tyndale was an English scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther...
of the
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
term
Gnadenstuhl, from the same narrative position in the
Luther BibleThe Luther Bible is a German Bible translation by Martin Luther, first printed with both testaments in 1534. This translation became a force in shaping the Modern High German language. The project absorbed Luther's later years. The new translation was very widely disseminated thanks to the printing...
;
Gnadenstuhl literally means
seat of grace, in the sense of
location of grace.
Though
kapporeth is probably
derivedEtymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
from
kaphar, which is often considered to mean
cover, the literal meaning of
kaphar is
wipe out, implying that
kapporeth means
thing of wiping out/
thing of cleansing; the
cognateIn linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
ArabicArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
term
kaffarat (also generally taken to mean
cover, but from which the word
kafirKafir is an Arabic term used in a Islamic doctrinal sense, usually translated as "unbeliever" or "disbeliever"...
also derives) is used in modern legal contexts to refer to any mechanism of rectifying illegality (ranging from rectifying the failure to fast during
RamadanRamadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
to the rectification of
murderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
), for example the freeing of slaves after the slave has suffered shocking circumstances could be considered as a
kaffarat. Similarly
hilasterion etymologically means
thing for propitiation, with
HesychiusHesychius of Alexandria , a grammarian who flourished probably in the 5th century CE, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived...
writing that a synonym of
hilasterion was
thing for catharsis, while the
VulgateThe Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
translates it as
propitiatorium. Thus it is unclear whether the
kapporeth was the lid of the Ark, or merely sat on top of the Ark, possibly with the Ark having a cover beneath it.
In the Hebrew Bible
According to the Biblical account, the
mercy seat was manufactured from pure
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, and was the same width and breadth as the Ark beneath it – 2.5 cubits long, and 1.5 cubits wide; the Ark and
mercy seat were, according to this passage, kept inside the
Holy of HoliesThe Holy of Holies is a term in the Hebrew Bible which refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was kept during the First Temple, which could be entered only by the High Priest on Yom Kippur...
–
the Temple'sThe Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
innermost
sanctuaryA sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
, the
Sanctum SanctorumThe Latin phrase sanctum sanctorum is a Latin translation of the biblical term: "Holy of Holies" which generally refers in Latin texts to the Holiest place of the Tabernacle of Ancient Israel and later the Temples in Jerusalem, but also has some derivative use in application to imitations of the...
, which was separated from the remainder of the temple by a thick curtain (
parochet), because the ark and
mercy seat were associated with the presence of
YahwehYahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
. The account also states that two golden statues of cherubim were placed at each end of the
mercy seat, facing one another and the
mercy seat, with their wings spread in order to enclose the
mercy seat; according to the
Books of SamuelThe Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...
, these cherubim together formed a seat for Yahweh. Although a literal interpretation of the Book of Exodus would conclude that the
mercy seat, along with the remainder of the Ark, was constructed according to the commands of Yahweh at the time of
MosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
,
textual scholarsTextual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
regard the passages referring to its construction as originating from the
priestly sourceThe Priestly Source is one of the sources of the Torah/Pentateuch in the bible. Primarily a product of the post-Exilic period when Judah was a province of the Persian empire , P was written to show that even when all seemed lost, God remained present with Israel...
, which they date to the 7th Century BCE.
According to the Biblical directions, the Holy of Holies could only be entered at
Yom KippurYom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
, and even then could only be entered by the
Jewish High PriestThe High Priest was the chief religious official of Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...
, who was covenanted to do so in order to sprinkle the blood of a
sacrificial bullThe term offering as found in the Hebrew Bible in relation to the worship of Ancient Israel is mainly represented by the Hebrew noun korban whether for an animal or other offering...
onto the
mercy seat, as an
atonementAtonement in Judaism is the process of causing a transgression to be forgiven or pardoned.- In Rabbinic Judaism :In Rabbinic Judaism, atonement is achieved through some combination of*repentance*Temple service Atonement in Judaism is the process of causing a transgression to be forgiven or...
for himself and his family, the other priests, the
TabernacleThe Tabernacle , according to the Hebrew Torah/Old Testament, was the portable dwelling place for the divine presence from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. Built to specifications revealed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, it accompanied the Israelites...
, and the people of
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
; the directions specify that
incenseIncense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
was first burnt in the Holy of Holies so that a cloud rose up and appeared above the
mercy seat. Biblical scholars regard this ritual as an evolution from the simpler sin offering for the first day of the seventh month, given in the
book of EzekielThe Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....
; though the
masoretic textThe Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
renders this as the
seventh day of the month, the
Septuagint has
... first day of the seventh month, and scholars think that the sin offering on this day exchanged days with
Rosh HashanahRosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
, which in Ezekiel's day appears to have been celebrated on the tenth of the month.
In the Pauline Epistles
Though the term
mercy seat usually appears as the English translation for the Greek term
hilasterion in the
Epistle to the HebrewsThe Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Its author is not known.The primary purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews is to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his...
, most translations are usually inconsistent as they instead generally translate
hilasterion as
propitiation where it occurs in the
Epistle to the RomansThe Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
. The Epistle to the Hebrews recounts the description of the Ark, Holy of Holies, and
mercy seat, and then goes on to portray the role of the
mercy seat during Yom Kippur as a prefiguration of the
Passion of ChristThe Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...
, which it argues was a greater atonement, and formed a
New CovenantThe New Covenant is a concept originally derived from the Hebrew Bible. The term "New Covenant" is used in the Bible to refer to an epochal relationship of restoration and peace following a period of trial and judgment...
; the text continues by stating that the Yom Kippur ritual was merely a
shadow of things to come, which in
Christian theology- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
is often taken as meaning that the ritual became
obsoleteSupersessionism is a term for the dominant Christian view of the Old Covenant, also called fulfillment theology and replacement theology, though the latter term is disputed...
once Jesus had died. The Epistle to the Romans states that Jesus was sent by God as a
propitiationPropitiation is appeasing or making well disposed , especially a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding Divine retribution.-Christian theology:...
, while, perhaps in a reflection on Ezekiel's atonement ceremony, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians argues that Jesus had become a sin offering.
Cultural references
- The term "mercy seat" can refer to misericord
A misericord is a small wooden shelf on the underside of a folding seat in a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.-Origins:...
s (literally translating as mercy), the small ledges in medieval European church pewA pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
s, which offered relief while standing through long prayerPrayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
s.
- Teen Mania Ministries
Teen Mania Ministries is an Evangelical Christian youth organization located in Garden Valley, Texas. Teen Mania focuses primarily on four key programs, with a few additional smaller endeavours....
presented a stage dramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
based on judgement and redeption offered at the Mercy seat during their 2005 Acquire the Fire tour
- Hymnist John Newton
John Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
, writer of Amazing Grace"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton , published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,...
wrote the hymn Approach, my Soul, the Mercy Seat. Gordon GanoGordon James Gano is an American musician. He is best known for being the singer, guitarist and songwriter of American alternative rock band Violent Femmes.-Early life:...
of the Violent FemmesViolent Femmes were an American alternative rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, initially active between 1980 and 1987 and again from 1988 to 2009...
named his 1987 gospelGospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
side project The Mercy Seat.
- Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
wrote the song The Mercy Seat for his 1988 Tender PreyTender Prey is the fifth album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1988 on Mute Records.Tender Prey contains Cave's 'signature' tune "The Mercy Seat", which he has subsequently played at almost all of his live performances since 1988, and was covered by Johnny Cash...
album; his 'signature tune', it has been performed at nearly every concert since 1988. The song tells the story of a condemned man facing death on the electric chairExecution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
seeking redemption in the afterlife. This song was later covered by Johnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
on his album, American III: Solitary ManAmerican III: Solitary Man is the third album in the American series by Johnny Cash released in 2000. The album was notable for being Cash's highest charting solo studio LP since his 1976 One Piece at a Time , an album that reached No. 2 Country based on the title cut...
. The American electro-industrial band StromkernStromkern is a band that blends electronic music and hip-hop. The band was formed in 1994 by James "Ned" Kirby.Kirby was originally a DJ in Madison, Wisconsin as a teenager, experimenting under the moniker "Flowers for Ravers" before founding Stromkern. Disenchanted with the music he was receiving...
had also covered this song in 1997 on their album Flicker Like a CandleFlicker Like a Candle is the debut release by electro-industrial band Stromkern. It was first released in 1997, and later expanded to a full length album in 2001 as the Millennium Edition...
.
- Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Ultra Vivid SceneUltra Vivid Scene was an American alternative rock band, started by Kurt Ralske.Former Nothing But Happiness and Crash guitarist Ralske started Ultra Vivid Scene in 1987, was signed to 4AD Records in 1988, and released his first UVS EP, She Screamed, in 1988...
also had a song entitled "The Mercy Seat".
- Neil LaBute
Neil N. LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.-Early life:LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver. LaBute is of French Canadian, English and Irish ancestry, and was raised in Spokane,...
wrote his 2002 play The Mercy SeatThe Mercy Seat is a 2002 play by Neil LaBute that was among the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns Ben, a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack, with his mistress, Abby, who is also...
based on an urban myth of a man who escaped the September 11 attacksThe September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
because he was seeing his mistress and contemplates running off with her. The play starred Liev SchreiberIsaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
and Sigourney WeaverSigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
and was both commercially and critically successful.
- The song 123 by the Indigo Girls
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
mentions the term "mercy seat."
- Anders Manga
Anders Manga is an American recording artist with a loyal underground following of fans worldwide. He was nominated for "Best Band" in 2006 by Gothic Beauty Magazine and has released 6 albums since 2005, most recently, "Infinite Gaze to the Sun" in winter 2009.-Personal life:Anders' father, Jerry...
's 2006 album Welcome to the Horror Show features a track called "The Mercy Seat."
- Karen Wheaton
Karen Harris Wheaton Towe is an American Pentecostal preacher, Gospel music singer and recording artist based in Hamilton, Alabama whose career has spanned the late 1970s until the present time. She has toured throughout the U.S. performing at events that also featured preachers and Christian...
has a song called "Mercy Seat" on her 1997 album I'm Still Here. This song has also been covered by other contemporary Christian musicians. In addition, the song is a prime example of both Wheaton's neo-gospel style of music and of her theological outlook in terms of lyrics making direct references to markers of salvation in the Bible.
- Cass Mccombs
Cass McCombs is an American songwriter and performer. Called "unobtrusively brilliant" by John Peel, he has received widespread critical acclaim for his five LPs and one EP.- History :Cass McCombs was born in Concord, California...
has a song called You saved my lifeYou Saved My Life is an Australian factual television series that screened on the Nine Network in 2009. It was hosted by Tara Brown.You Saved My Life follows the stories of people who have been rescued in an emergency situation and reunited with their rescuers. It has a similar premise to the...
and the lyrics goes "my fate's mercy seat, Sought blood to gulp and flesh to eat" it's in his 2009 album CatacombsCatacombs, human-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place can be described as a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman empire...
- AA Bondy mentions the Mercy Seat in his 2008 Daytrotter version of the song, "The Mightiest of Guns": "... and the people dragging crosses down the street, see 'em put a child upon the mercy seat."
External links