What Does Exodus 37:9 Mean in the King James?
And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The mercy seat carries the root-sense of a covering, and the cherubim spread a second covering above it while facing toward it.
THE MEANING
The wings stretch over a covering that is itself the center of attention. The cherubim face one another, then orient toward that same covering, so relationship and encounter converge there. The image holds shelter and attention in one frame.
THE ROOT
הַכַּפֹּרֶת
ha-kappōret
GROWS FROM
כפר
k-p-r
Cover; cover over.
“mercy seat” in this verse is ha-kappōret. The Hebrew name carries the root-sense of covering beneath the familiar English phrase. That covering is the focal point toward which the cherubim turn, with their wings spread above it.
ALSO GROWS
kōpher: Pitch or coating; a layer that covers.
כֹּפֶר
In Genesis 6:14, this word names the pitch coating the ark, giving the root a concrete image of a covering laid over a surface.
kippurim: Coverings; the word in Yom ha-Kippurim.
כִּפֻּרִים
The same root carries its covering language into the name of the day associated with the kappōret.
סֹכְכִים
sokhekhim
GROWS FROM
סכך
s-k-k
Screen, cover, shelter.
“covered with their wings” in this verse is sokhekhim. A second covering verb describes what the wings do over the kappōret. The verse layers a sheltering screen over the covering, then directs the faces toward the center the wings shelter.
ALSO GROWS
sukkah: Booth or shelter.
סֻכָּה
This branch names a shelter made as a covering, echoing the wings spread over the kappōret.
yāsekh: He covers or shelters.
יָסֵךְ
Psalm 91:4 uses this form for covering with feathers, linking the cherubim’s wings with the same root’s image of shelter.
THE PATTERN
Covering becomes both a sheltered meeting place and a recurring image of divine nearness.
And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;THE THREAD
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;The Greek term ἱλαστήριον (hilastērion, mercy-seat or propitiatory place) appears here as “propitiation” and is the Septuagint’s term for the ark’s כַּפֹּרֶת (kappōret, covering). That link opens the Exodus image further: the covering also names the place where God’s work is disclosed.
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