Essay על שמות 25:17

Kapporet here could indicate simply “cover,” yet its function goes beyond mere protection. The name of this central part of the above-cited central cult object may be a play on words. The Hebrew verb kapper, which occurs again later in these texts (see 29:33–37), often means “purge” or “purify”; earlier translators rendered it as “expiate” or even “propitiate,” and the kapporet as “mercy-seat” or “propitiatory.” The kapporet was apparently the holiest spot in the Israelite cult system, and it was there that God was said to speak his will to the people. This idea represents a remarkable shrinking and intimatizing process: the God who spoke to the assembled people, amid thunder, fire, and trembling earth at Sinai, now communicates with them from an area roughly the size of a small desk or table. In addition, there is a shift from a one-time event (Sinai) to the permanent fact of a sanctuary—a development which will later be repeated in Solomon’s Temple.