The Mercy Seat

The ark of the covenant, Exodus 25:10–16 reveals, was a gold-covered box where the tablets containing the Ten Commandments would be stored. Verses 17–22 continue the instructions for the ark, describing the portion of it called the “mercy seat.”

According to today’s passage, the mercy seat was a lid made of pure gold placed on top of the ark. It was adorned by figures of two cherubim that stood on its surface, facing one another with their wings overshadowing the ark (vv. 17–21). Throughout the ancient Near East, creatures called cherubim appeared in religious iconography, indicating that belief in these beings was widespread even outside Israel, though pagan depictions of these creatures were obviously perversions of the truth. We do not know exactly what the cherubim looked like. The most extended description of biblical cherubim occurs in the book of Ezekiel, where we see that the cherubim who attended the Lord’s throne had features including four faces—one each of a human, an ox, an eagle, and a lion—and four wings (Ezek. 1; 10:1). It is unclear, however, whether Ezekiel is giving an exact description of their appearance or whether his words should be taken more symbolically. In any case, it seems that the cherubim are powerful supernatural beings with wings who guard access to God’s presence (see also Gen. 3:24).

In Hebrew, the word translated in the ESV as “mercy seat” is kapporet, which refers to “atonement” or “reconciliation” and is related to the root word for “cover.” God pledged to meet His people at the mercy seat, which was the place of atonement, for reconciliation and covering (Ex. 25:22). Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat to atone for the nation’s sins (Lev. 16:15–16). Since the lid and the winged cherubim covered the ark and the Ten Commandments within, the idea is that the blood of the atoning sacrifices sprinkled on the mercy seat covered Israel’s violations of the law, shielding the people from God’s wrath.

The Greek word for “mercy seat” is hilastrion, which is translated “propitiation” in Romans 3:25 to describe the work of Christ. Jesus is the true mercy seat, for His blood covers our sin, satisfying the wrath of God. In Him alone we meet God unafraid (see John 14:6). Matthew Henry comments that the ark’s mercy seat “was a type of Christ, the great propitiation, whose satisfaction fully answers the demands of the law, covers our transgressions, and comes between us and the curse we deserve.”