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You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

Verse Takeaways

1

More Than Just a Lid

Scholars emphasize that the Hebrew term for "mercy seat" (kapporeth) means far more than a simple "lid." While it physically covered the ark, its name is rooted in the concept of "atonement" or "expiation." As John Calvin explains, it symbolically covered the law, which accuses humanity of sin, thus allowing God to show mercy and be favorable to His people.

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Book Overview

Exodus

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Commentaries

6

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes

On Exodus 25:17–22

18th Century

Theologian

A mercy seat of pure gold – (Exodus 25:18–20). In external form, the mercy seat was a plate of gold with the cherubim standing o…

Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott

On Exodus 25:17

19th Century

Bishop

THE MERCY SEAT.

A mercy seat. —Those critics to whom the idea of expiation is unsatisfactory, as Knobel and…

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon

On Exodus 25:17

19th Century

Preacher

It fitted exactly on the top of the ark, and so completely covered whatever was put within. It was made of pure gold. This, perhaps, was the most i…

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John Calvin

John Calvin

On Exodus 25:17

16th Century

Theologian

And you shall make a mercy-seat. The primary root of the verb כפר, caphar, from which this noun is derived,128 is used…

John Gill

John Gill

On Exodus 25:17

17th Century

Pastor

And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold
Or "covering" F14 ; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; for so the word properly …

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry

On Exodus 25:10–22

17th Century

Minister

The ark was a chest, overlaid with gold, in which the two tables of the law were to be kept. These tables are called the testimony; God in them tes…

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