Discovery BoxExodus 37:9 
Context37:9 The cherubim were spreading their wings 1 upward, overshadowing the atonement lid with their wings. The cherubim 2 faced each other, 3 looking toward the atonement lid. 4
Exodus 35:12
Context35:12 the ark, with its poles, the atonement lid, and the special curtain that conceals it;
Exodus 39:35
Context39:35 the ark of the testimony and its poles, and the atonement lid;
Exodus 25:20
Context25:20 The cherubim are to be spreading their wings upward, overshadowing 5 the atonement lid with their wings, and the cherubim are to face each other, 6 looking 7 toward the atonement lid.
Exodus 26:34
Context26:34 You are to put the atonement lid on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place.
Exodus 37:7
Context37:7 He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid,
Exodus 25:18-19
Context25:18 You are to make two cherubim 8 of gold; you are to make them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid. 25:19 Make 9 one cherub on one end 10 and one cherub on the other end; from the atonement lid 11 you are to make the cherubim on the two ends.
Exodus 25:21
Context25:21 You are to put the atonement lid on top of the ark, and in the ark you are to put the testimony I am giving you.
Exodus 31:7
Context31:7 the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the atonement lid that is on it, all the furnishings 12 of the tent,
Exodus 37:6
Context37:6 He made 13 an atonement lid of pure gold; its length was three feet nine inches, and its width was two feet three inches.
Exodus 37:8
Context37:8 one cherub on one end 14 and one cherub on the other end. 15 He made the cherubim from the atonement lid on its two ends.
Exodus 40:20
Context40:20 He took the testimony and put it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark, and then put the atonement lid on the ark.
Exodus 25:17
Context25:17 “You are to make an atonement lid 16 of pure gold; 17 its length is to be three feet nine inches, and its width is to be two feet three inches.
Exodus 25:22
Context25:22 I will meet with you there, 18 and 19 from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites.
Exodus 30:6
Context30:6 “You are to put it in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the testimony (before the atonement lid that is over the testimony), where I will meet you.
1 tn The construction is a participle in construct followed by the genitive “wings” – “spreaders of wings.”
2 tn “The cherubim” has been placed here instead of in the second clause to produce a smoother translation.
3 tn Heb “and their faces a man to his brother.”
4 tn Heb “to the atonement lid were the faces of the cherubim.”
5 tn The verb means “overshadowing, screening” in the sense of guarding (see 1 Kgs 8:7; 1 Chr 28:18; see also the account in Gen 3:24). The cherubim then signify two things here: by their outstretched wings they form the throne of God who sits above the ark (with the Law under his feet), and by their overshadowing and guarding they signify this as the place of atonement where people must find propitiation to commune with God. Until then they are barred from his presence. See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 330-35.
6 tn Heb “their faces a man to his brother.”
7 tn Heb “the faces of the cherubim will be” (“the cherubim” was moved to the preceding clause for smoother English).
8 tn The evidence suggests that the cherubim were composite angelic creatures that always indicated the nearness of God. So here images of them were to be crafted and put on each end of the ark of the covenant to signify that they were there. Ezekiel 1 describes four cherubim as each having human faces, four wings, and parts of different animals for their bodies. Traditions of them appear in the other cultures as well. They serve to guard the holy places and to bear the throne of God. Here they were to be beaten out as part of the lid.
9 tn The text now shifts to use an imperative with the vav (ו) conjunction.
10 tn The use of זֶה (zeh) repeated here expresses the reciprocal ideas of “the one” and “the other” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 26, §132).
11 sn The angels were to form one piece with the lid and not be separated. This could be translated “of one piece with” the lid, but it is likely the angels were simply fastened to it permanently.
12 tn Heb “all the vessels of the tent.”
13 tn Heb “and he made.”
14 tn Heb “from/at [the] end, from this.”
15 tn The repetition of the expression indicates it has the distributive sense.
16 tn The noun is כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet), translated “atonement lid” or “atonement plate.” The traditional translation “mercy-seat” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) came from Tyndale in 1530 and was also used by Luther in 1523. The noun is formed from the word “to make atonement.” The item that the Israelites should make would be more than just a lid for the ark. It would be the place where atonement was signified. The translation of “covering” is probably incorrect, for it derives from a rare use of the verb, if the same verb at all (the evidence shows “cover” is from another root with the same letters as this). The value of this place was that Yahweh sat enthroned above it, and so the ark essentially was the “footstool.” Blood was applied to the lid of the box, for that was the place of atonement (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 269-270).
17 tn After verbs of making or producing, the accusative (like “gold” here) may be used to express the material from which something is made (see GKC 371 §117.hh).
18 sn Here then is the main point of the ark of the covenant, and the main point of all worship – meeting with God through atonement. The text makes it clear that here God would meet with Moses (“you” is singular) and then he would speak to the people – he is the mediator of the covenant. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 272) makes the point that the verb here is not the word that means “to meet by chance” (as in Exod 3:18), but “to meet” by appointment for a purpose (וְנוֹעַדְתִּי, vÿno’adti). The parallel in the NT is Jesus Christ and his work. The theology is that the Law condemns people as guilty of sin, but the sacrifice of Christ makes atonement. So he is the “place of propitiation (Rom 3:25) who gains communion with the Father for sinners. A major point that could be made from this section is this: At the center of worship must be the atoning work of Christ – a perpetual reminder of God’s righteous standard (the testimony in the ark) and God’s gracious provision (the atonement lid).
19 tn The verb is placed here in the text: “and I will speak”; it has been moved in this translation to be closer to the direct object clause.
