mercy seat

From mercy + seat, after German Gnadenstuhl, translating Hebrew כַּפֹּרֶת (kappóreth) (= Hellenistic Greek ἱλαστήριον (hilastḗrion) (Septuagint)/Latin propitiatorium (Vulgate)).

mercy seat (plural mercy seats)

1. (Judaism, Christianity) The lid of the Ark of the Covenant, on which God is said to have been enthroned; taken to represent the throne in heaven.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 25:17:

     And thou shalt make a Mercieseat of pure gold: two cubites and a halfe shalbe the length thereof, and a cubite and a halfe the breadth thereof.

   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 2007, page 206:

     The greatest mystery of Religion is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of Jewish Types, we finde the Cherubims shadowing the Mercy-seat.

2. Synonym of mourners' bench