Mercy @ compassion for the miserable. Its object is misery. By the atoning sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the exercise of mercy towards the sons of men, in harmony with the demands of truth and righteousness Genesis:19:19; Exodus:20:6Exodus:34:6-7; Psalms:85:10Psalms:86:15-16). In Christ mercy and truth meet together. Mercy is also a Christian grace Matthew:5:7Matthew:18:33-35).
Mercy-seat @ (Heb. kapporeth, a "covering;" LXX. and N.T., hilasterion; Vulg., propitiatorium), the covering or lid of the ark of the covenant (q.v.). It was of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, or perhaps rather a plate of solid gold, 2 1/2 cubits long and 1 1/2 broad Exodus:25:17Exodus:30:6Exodus:31:7 ). It is compared to the throne of grace Hebrews:9:5; Ephesians:2:6). The holy of holies is called the "place of the mercy-seat" ( 1Chronicles:28:11: Leviticus:16:2). It has been conjectured that the censer (thumiaterion, meaning "anything having regard to or employed in the burning of incense") mentioned in Hebrews:9:4 was the "mercy-seat," at which the incense was burned by the high priest on the great day of atonement, and upon or toward which the blood of the goat was sprinkled Leviticus:16:11-16; comp. Numbers:7:89 and Exodus:25:22).
MERCYSEAT @ - Exodus:25:17Exodus:37:6; Hebrews:9:5) This appears to have been merely the lid of the ark of the covenant, not another surface affixed thereto. (It was a solid plate of gold, 2 1/2 cubits (6 1/3 feet) long by 1 1/2 cubits (2 2/3 feet) wide, representing a kind of throne of God, where he would hear prayer and from which he spoke words of comfort. --ED.) It was that whereon the blood of the yearly atonement was sprinkled by the high priest; and in this relation it is doubtful whether the sense of the word in the Hebrew is based on the material fact of its "covering" the ark, or derived from this notion of its reference to the "covering" (i.e. atonement) of sin.
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