PROPITIATORY (Hebr. happōreth, Septuagint ἐναστήρων).—A sheet of gold that covered the upper part ark of the covenant (v.). Of unspecified thickness, it measured two and a half cubits (= approx. 1.31 m) in length and one and a half (= 0.78 m) in width (Ex. 25:17; cf. 26:34; 30:6; 31:7; 37:6).
At the lateral ends were placed two cherubim of beaten gold, perhaps kneeling, facing one another, with their wings spread over the p. and their gaze lowered toward its central part (ibid. 25:18 ff.; 37:7 ff.), where the majesty of Jahweh was conceived as present (Num. 7:89).
Much has been debated concerning the meaning and function of the p., often conceived as merely a cover for the ark. It seems, rather, that the name happōreth was derived by the object from the expiatory rite performed upon it on the day of hippūr, or atonement (hipper = to atone = “to purify”); hence the Septuagint would essentially have translated it correctly with ἐναστήρων (instrument, means of expiation or propitiation), which the ancient Latin versions rendered with propitiatorium. The Septuagint, which in Ex. 25:17 conveys the adjectival force of ἐναστήρων (ἐναστήρων ἐπίθεμα), thereafter habitually uses it as a neuter substantive (ibid. 25:18–24; 31:7; 35:12; 38:5–8; Lev. 16:2, 13 ff.; Num. 7:89, etc.).
On the day of atonement the high priest sprinkled the p. first with the blood of a bullock, then with that of a goat (Lev. 16:11–15). The importance attached to the p. is also suggested by the expression bēth hākhappōreth (“house of the p.”; I Par. 28:11), designating the Holy of Holies. The Epistle to the Hebrews (v.) likewise, in describing the Tabernacle (Hebr. 9:1–5), makes everything converge upon the p., overshadowed by the cherubim (9:5).
The significance of the rites performed upon the p., virtually the point or means of contact between sinful humanity and God, explains why St. Paul (Rom. 3:25) expresses with ἐναστήρων the mediating and expiatory function of Christ. The Vulgate, with propitiatio, has obscured the probable allusion to the p. of the Mosaic tabernacle.