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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

275

magnitude, could become dimensional bodies ("Al Imanab weal-I'tikadat," ed. Landauer, p. 43; He-

brew text, ed. Slutzki, p. 23). Maimonides devoted a whole chapter in his "Cluidc of the Perplexed to combating the theory of atoms as that theory had been elaborated by the Motekallamin. If every motion, he says, is to be resolved "

Maimonides.

into a series of successive motions of single atoms of substance, through one atom of space, and these atoms are

supposed to be equal, the velocity of all moving bodies must be the same, which is absurd. In the revolution of a millstone, for example, each point in the extreme circumference of the stone describes a large circle in the very same time in which a point nearer the center describes a smaller circle; the velocity of the outer circle is therefore greater than that of the inner circle ("Moreh, " I. lxiii.). Among the Karaite philosophers Atomism found no more adherents thanamong the Rabbinites. Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia fully explains the views of the atomists (npriDH, K'JX) and, except Levi ben Jefet, who may possibly have been an atomist, all other Karaite philosophers quoted by Aaron ben Elijah were against Atomism ("Ez Hayyim," ed. De;

litzsch, iv.). Lafaist (Lafaye), Philosophic Atomistique, pp. 20 et acq., Paris, 1840; Munk, Melanges de Philosophic p. 323 ; Moreh, I., ch. lxxiii.

Bibliography:

Juive et Arabe, k.

I.

ATONEMENT

The

Br.

setting at one, or reconcilitranslation used in ation, of two estranged parties the Authorized Version for "kapparah," "kippu:

—

The root 133 ("kipper "), to make atonement, explained by W. Robertson Smith (" Old Testament in the Jewish Church," i. 439), after the Syriac, as meaning " to wipe out." This is also the view taken by Zimmern ("Beitriige zur Kenntniss der Babylonischen Religion," 1899, p. 92), who claims Babylonian origin for both the term and the rite. Wellhausen ("Composition des Hextateuchs," p. 335) translates "kapparah" as if derived from "kapper" The verb, however, seems to be a deriv(to cover). ative from the noun " kofer " (ransom) and to have rim."

is

.

meant originally " to atone. Just as by old Teutonic custom the owner of a man or beast that had been killed was to be pacified by the covering up of the corpse with grain or gold ("Wergeld") by the offender (Grimm, "Deutsche Rechts-Alterthiimer, "

p.

740),

so

Abimelech gives

Abraham a thousand pieces

of silver as a " covering of the eyes, " in order Meaning, that his wrongdoing may be overlooked (Gen. xx. 16, R. V. A. V., in" Of whose hand have I correctly " he " for " it "). received any [kofer] bribe [A. V. " taken a ransom "] to

Original



,

to blind

my eyes

xii. 3). " Kofer "

therewith?" says Samuel

(I

Sam.

death (Ps. xlix. 8, Hebr. A. V. 7). At the taking of the census "they shall give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord half a shekel (Ex. xxx. 12, Hebr.). Similarly, Jacob, in order to make his peace with his brother Esau, says, " I will appease [" akapperah "] his [angry] face with the

.

"Wherewith shall I make atonement ["bammah akapper "] ? " that is, " With what kind of kofer shall I make atonement? " (II Sam. xxi. 3). "The wrath of a king is as messengers of death but a wise man will [by some propitiatory offering or kofer] pacify

(Prov. xvi. 14). Every sacrifice may be considered thus as a kofer, in the original sense a propitiatory gift; and its pui'pose is to "make atonement ["le kapper"] for the people" (Lev. ix. 7, x. 17). In the priestly laws, the priest who offers the sacrifice as kofer is, as a rule, the one who makes the Atonement (Lev. i. -v., xvi., etc.); only occasionally is it the blood of the sacrifice (Lev. xvii. 11), or the money offering (" kesef kippurim," Connection Ex. xxx. 15, 16; Num. xxxi. 50), that with makes Atonement for the soul; while Sacrifice, the act. of Atonement is intended to cleanse the person from his guilt (" mehatato," Lev. iv. 26, v. 6-10). In the prophetic language, however, the original idea of the kofer offering had become lost, and, instead of the offended person (God), the offense or guilt became the object of the Atonement (compare Isa. vi. 7, Hebr. " Thy sin [" tekuppar "] is atoned for it "



[A. V., "purged"] "; Isa. xxvii. 9, Hebr. "By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be atoned for [A. V. " purged "] " I Sam. iii. 14 " The iniquity of

,



not accepted in the case of murder (Num. xxxv. 31, The dishonored husband " will not regard any 32). ransom" (" kofer " Prov. vi. 35). No man can give a kofer for his brother to ransom him from impending



house shall not be atoned for [A. V. " purged "] with sacrifice nor offering for ever " Prov. xvi. 6 "By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for [A. V., " purged "] ") and, consequently, instead of the priest as the offerer of the ransom, God Himself became the one who atoned (Deut. xxi. 8, "Kapper le'amka Israel, " " Atone thou for thy people Israel [Driver, Commentary, "Clear thou thy people"; A. V., "Be merciful, O Lord"]; compare Deut. xxxii. 43, "And he will atone for the land of his people " [Driver, Commentary, " Clear from guilt " A. V., "will be merciful unto his land, and to his people"]; see also Jer. xviii. 23; Ezek. xvi. 63; Ps. lxv. 4, lxxviii. 38, lxxix. 9; II Chron. xxx. 18). ,

Eli's





Thus there is in Scripture a successive spiritualiFollowing the zation of the idea of Atonement. common view, David says (I Sam. Atonement xxvi. 19): "If the Lord have stirred Idea

thee up against me, let him accept an offering [to appease the anger of God] " But while this cruder view of sacrifice underlies the form of worship Semites (see Robertson Smith, " Religion

Spiritual-

was



.

.

present "(Gen. xx xii. 21, Hebr. [A.V. 20]); that is, "I will offer a kofer. " When the blood of the murdered Gibeonites cries to heaven for vengeance, David sajr s

ized.

the legal term for the propitiatory gift or ransom in case a man was killed by a goring ox " If there be laid on him a [kofer] ransom [A. V., inaccurately, "a sum of money"] (Ex. xxi. 30); but this "kofer nefesh" (ransom for the life) was

Atonement

among

all

.

of the Semites," pp. 378-388), the idea of Atonement in the priestly Torah is based upon a realizing sense of sin as a breaking-away from God, and of the need of reconciliation with Him of the soul that has sinned.

Every sin— whether it be "het," a straying away from the path of right, or " 'avon," crookedness of conduct, or " pesha',"— rebellious transgression— is a