Five-minute study · Day 76 · Luke 18
Luke 18:13
A word worth stopping on: be merciful ἱλάσκομαι hilaskomai
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' Seven words in the Greek. One of them, hilaskomai, is the verb used for the Day of Atonement ritual, the annual moment when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat to cover the sins of the entire nation. This tax collector, standing in the back of the temple, prayed the theology of Leviticus 16 in a single sentence. He asked God to do for him what the high priest did once a year for all of Israel.
Word study: be merciful
- Greek
- ἱλάσκομαι
- Pronounced
- hilaskomai
- Strong's
- G2433
- Definition
- To propitiate, to make atonement, to be merciful or gracious. In the LXX, used for the Day of Atonement ritual of covering sin.
BDAG defines hilaskomai as 'to cause to be favorably inclined, to propitiate' and 'to make amends for wrongdoing, to expiate.' The word carries sacrificial weight. In the Septuagint, hilaskomai translates the Hebrew kipper (to cover, to atone) in Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement chapter. The hilasterion (mercy seat, the gold lid on the Ark of the Covenant) is the place where hilaskomai happens. The connection between the verb and the sacred furniture is direct.
Morris, in 'The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross,' argues that hilaskomai in the New Testament retains its sacrificial meaning. The tax collector is asking God to be propitiated, to treat him as though atonement has been made. He is praying for the Day of Atonement to apply to him personally, right now, in the temple court.
The TDNT entry on hilaskomai traces the word through Greek usage. In classical Greek, it means to appease an angry deity through sacrifice or offering. The Septuagint shifts the emphasis. In Leviticus, God himself provides the means of atonement. The sacrifice does not change God's mind; it is the mechanism God established for dealing with sin. The initiative belongs to God.
Luke's parable draws a sharp line between the Pharisee, who catalogs his religious achievements ('I fast twice a week, I tithe everything'), and the tax collector, who has one request: hilaskomai. The Pharisee describes what he has done for God. The tax collector asks for what God has done at the altar. One prays his resume. The other prays a sacrifice. Jesus says the tax collector went home justified.
Historical context · Second Temple period, first century AD
The One Day the Curtain Opened
The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, was the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month (Tishri), the high priest alone entered the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber of the temple where the Ark of the Covenant had once stood. He wore plain white linen, stripped of the ornate vestments of his office. He carried blood from a sacrificed bull and a goat, and he sprinkled it on the mercy seat (hilasterion) and before it.
The Mishnah tractate Yoma describes the first-century ritual in detail. The high priest bathed five times and changed garments ten times during the day. The incense he burned in the Holy of Holies created a cloud that covered the mercy seat, because 'there shall no man see me, and live' (Exodus 33:20). The people waited outside in the court. When the high priest emerged alive, it meant the atonement had been accepted. The crowd erupted in relief and worship.
Tax collectors in first-century Palestine were among the most despised members of Jewish society. They collected revenue for Rome, often extorting more than required and keeping the surplus. They were ritually unclean by association with Gentiles and were barred from serving as witnesses in court. The Talmud groups them with robbers.
When this tax collector stands 'far off' and prays hilaskomai, the spatial detail matters. He is at the outer edge of the temple courts, as far from the Holy of Holies as a person can stand while still being inside the temple complex. He cannot approach the altar. He will never enter the inner courts. And from that distance, he prays the Day of Atonement verb. Let the sacrifice cover me. Let what happens at the mercy seat reach all the way out here, to where I am standing.
For reflection
The tax collector prayed seven words. He did not explain himself, bargain, or list his qualifications. He asked for the sacrifice to cover him. Consider your own prayers this week. How much of your prayer time is spent presenting a case, and how much is spent asking for mercy? The man who went home justified was the one who stopped talking about himself and asked God to do what God has already promised to do.
He stood far off and would not lift his eyes. The posture matched the prayer. Both said the same thing: I have nothing to offer. Cover me.
Sources: BDAG; TDNT; Morris, 'The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross'