ATONEMENT. This word appears in the A. V. of the Old Testament as the rendering of the Heb. 11S2 , used only in the plural ?ism, and to `make atonement,' as the rendering of the Piel of the cognate verb Ign. The primary mean.
ing of this verb is to cover; and, as sin was covered or hid from the search of avenging justice when an expiation was made, the verb came to be used in this sense, and from it as so used came the noun. The verb is used also not only for the act of expia tion (Exod. xxxii. 30; Lev. vi. 7, etc.), but also for the effect of that act, viz. the removal of guilt from the transgressor, and viz., consequent exemp tion from punishment, and also the placating or appeasing of the offended party. Thus it is enacted, Lev. i. 2-4, that when an offering is brought unto the Lord, the offerer shall ' put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him ;' where the idea of a transference of guilt from the offerer to his offer ing, and the removal of it from the former by the latter is clearly set forth, comp. Lev. iv. 20 ; V. 18 ; xvi. 6 ; Num. vi. II, etc. ('The prepositions used after the verb in these passages are not always the same; sometimes 3,/, sometimes 13)2, but this does not affect the meaning.) When Jacob sent a present before him to his brother Esau, he said I will ap pease him (VI rrn:N, lit., I will cover his Awe, so
that he shall forgive my offence, I will make atone ment before hint, I will placate him), etc , Gen. xxxii. 21 (20). So in Prov. xvi. 14 we read, ' The wrath of a king is as messengers of death ; but a wise man will pacify it (7)1D2').' In the New Testa ment the word atonement occurs only once, Rom. v. II, as the rendering of KaraXXiisdi, which is else where translated reconcilin; and reconciliation, and so it is given in the margin of the above passage. ' Atonement' is in this instance used in its primary etymological sense, equivalent to at-one-meat, a sense in which it occurs in Shakespeare, e. He seeks to make atonement between the Duke of Glo'ster and your brothers,' and in Spenser (Flury Queen, b. ii. cant. 2, 297) we have, ' So been they both atone,' etc. In a theological sense the word means the compensaticin rendered to the divine go vernment by the death of Christ, as a sacrifice for men's sins. See Grotius, De Satisfactione Christi; Magee, Discourses on Atonement and Sacrifices, 3 vols. ; Smith's Four Discourses on Sacrifice, etc. ; Symington on the Atonement ; Wardlaw, Dis courses on the Nature and Extent of the Atonement of Christ ; Candlish on the Atonement, Edin. 1860; Thomson, Bampton Lecture for 185J.— W.L.A.