The Urim ( ʾŪrīm, "lights") and the Thummim ( Tummīm, "perfection" or "truth") in the Hebrew Bible are elements of the hoshen, the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod, a type of apron or garment. The pair are used frequently in the Old Testament, in Exodus 28:30 and Leviticus 8:8 through God's instruction to Aaron on how to adorn his breastplate worn in the holy place; in 1 Samuel 14:41 by King Saul to determine who was at fault for breaking the army's fast; and Ezra 2 to determine whether those who claimed to be the descendants of the priests of Israel were truly of that class. The Urim and Thummim are sometimes connected by scholars with cleromancy (with divination by casting lots), although it is equally likely no casting was physically done, and the participants in the ritual waited for a sign to answer a question or reveal the will of God. Many scholars now believe that Urim () simply derives from the Hebrew (Arrim) "curses" and thus that Urim and Thummim essentially means "cursed or faultless", in reference to the deity's judgment of an accused person; in other words, Urim and Thummim were used to answer the question "innocent or guilty". such scholars suspect that the concept of Urim and Thummim was originally derived from the Tablet of Destinies. uses a phrase which is usually translated as "inquired of God", which is significant as the grammatical form of the Hebrew implies that the inquiry was performed by objects being manipulated; scholars view it as evident from these verses and versions that cleromancy was involved, and that Urim and Thummim were the names of the objects being cast.

The description of the clothing of the Hebrew high priest in the Book of Exodus portrays the Urim and Thummim as being put into the sacred breastplate, worn by the high priest over the Ephod. Where the biblical text elsewhere describes an Ephod being used, scholars presume that it is referring to use of the Urim and Thummim in conjunction with the Ephod, as this seems to be intimately connected with it; explains that the High Priest would stand facing the Ark of the Covenant with the inquirer behind him, facing the Priest's back. After the inquirer asked his question, the Holy Spirit would immediately overcome the Priest and he would see the letters protruding in a prophetic vision. The Talmudic rabbis argued that Urim and Thummim were words written on the sacred breastplate. Most of the Talmudic rabbis, and Josephus, following the belief that Urim meant "lights", argued that the rituals involving Urim and Thummim involved questions being answered by great rays of light shining out of certain jewels on the breastplate; each jewel was taken to represent different letters, and the sequence of lighting thus would spell out an answer (though there were 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and only 12 jewels on the breastplate); two Talmudic rabbis, however, argued that the jewels themselves moved in a way that made them stand out from the rest, or even moved themselves into groups to form words.

History of use

The first reference to Urim and Thummim in the Bible is the description in the Book of Exodus concerning the high priest's vestments; the chronologically earliest passage mentioning them, according to textual scholars, is in the Book of Hosea, where it is implied, by reference to the Ephod, that the Urim and Thummim were fundamental elements in the popular form of the Israelite religion, however, these rabbinical sources questioned, or at least tried to justify, why Urim and Thummim would be required when a prophet was also present. The classical rabbinical writers argued that the Urim and Thummim were only permitted to be consulted by very prominent figures such as army generals, the most senior of court figures, and kings, and the only questions which could be raised were those which were asked for the benefit of the people as a whole. To uncover the sin of Achan the sacred Lots were used by Joshua. Abiathar joined David, who was then in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:20–23, 23:6). He remained with David, and became priest of the party of which he was the leader (1 Sam. 30:7). When David ascended the throne of Judah, Abiathar was appointed High Priest (1 Chr. 15:11; 1 Kings 2:26) and the "king's counselor" (1 Chr. 27:33–34). Meanwhile, Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, had been made High Priest. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia Abiathar was deposed from office when he was deserted by the Holy Spirit without which the Urim and Thummin could not be consulted.

Although Josephus argues that the Urim and Thummim continued to function until the era of the Maccabees, Talmudic sources are unanimous in agreeing that the Urim and Thummim stopped functioning much earlier, when Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians. In a passage from the part of the Book of Ezra which overlaps with the Book of Nehemiah, it is mentioned that individuals who were unable to prove, after the Babylonian captivity had ended, that they were descended from the priesthood before the captivity began, were required to wait until priests in possession of Urim and Thummim were discovered; this would appear to confirm the statements in the Talmud that the Urim and Thummim had by then been lost. states that in the Second Temple the Urim and Thummim actually existed but no longer functioned in the practical sense since the priests no longer possessed the Holy Spirit. Rabbi Abraham ben David disagrees and maintains that during that era, the Urim and Thummim were completely absent. The earliest association of the spectacles with the biblical term "Urim and Thummim" occurred in 1833 and Smith appears to have adopted the term in subsequent descriptions. The Urim and Thummim were said to have been found with the golden plates, a breastplate (to which the silver bows were attached in some descriptions), and the Sword of Laban. Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, described these Urim and Thummim as being like "two smooth three-cornered diamonds." Smith and others also referred to individual seer stones also associated with Smith's dictation of the Book of Mormon as Urim and Thummim, although his wife, Emma Smith, in her later accounts distinguished between the seer stones and the Urim and Thummim. Many Latter Day Saints believe that Smith's Urim and Thummim were functionally identical to the biblical Urim and Thummim.

Smith extended the use of the term "Urim and Thummim" to describe the dwelling place of God, the earth in a future state, and the white stone mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

upright=0.8|thumb|[[Yale University coat of arms, with Urim and Thummim shown in Hebrew letters on an open book]]

In accordance with the belief that Urim and Thummim translates to "Light and Truth", the Latin equivalent Lux et Veritas has been used for several university mottoes. For example, Lux et Veritas is the motto of Yale University, Indiana University and the University of Montana. Similarly, Northeastern University's motto is Lux, Veritas, Virtus ("Light, Truth, Virtue"). Urim and Thummim itself is emblazoned in Hebrew across the open book pictured on the Yale University coat of arms, and the translation Lux et Veritas appears below on a banner.

The Urim and Thummim are also mentioned in some modern fiction:

  • Short story The Jew's Breastplate in collection Tales of Terror and Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • Urim and Thummim were the names given to two objects of mystical technology in the Prosopopeia transmedia series, culminating in the International Emmy Award-winning participatory drama series The Truth About Marika by SVT and The company P.
  • In the television series Dig, the breastplate that is a part of the mystery is said to be the breastplate of the High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem and used to communicate with God.
  • In Paulo Coelho's 1988 novel The Alchemist, Urim and Thummim are black and white fortune-telling stones that Melchizedek gives to Santiago, with their colors representing “yes” and “no” answers to questions.
  • In John Bellairs’ young adult novel The Revenge of the Wizard’s Ghost, the two main characters go in search of the Urim and Thummim, imagined as stones with healing powers.
  • In The Object – The Urim and Thummim (2007), a documentary directed by Jacob Young, "The story of a musician's fascinating discovery of an ancient relic, as he attempts to seek its mysterious significance and share the artifact with the world."
  • In the visual novel series Misericorde, Urim and Thummim are the names of a pair of swords that are central to the mysteries and symbolism of the story.

See also

  • Cleromancy: the drawing of lots for the purpose of divination
  • Divination: ascertaining information by supernatural means
  • Dice: polyhedral objects used to randomize decisions
  • Oracle: person or object used to obtain information via prophecy or clairvoyance
  • Scrying: obtaining supernatural knowledge by means of an object

Notes and citations

  • Urim and Thummim in recent research
  • The Urim and Thummim by Reb Chaim HaQoton
  • Mormon views of Urim and Thummim and Seer Stones
  • Commentary on Exodus 28:30 by John Wesley
  • Commentary on Exodus 28:30 by Cyrus Scofield
  • The Urim V'tumim: The History of Yale's Insignia and Jewish Thought Today at westvilleshul.org, by Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol – B'nai Israel, the Westville Synagogue, New Haven, Connecticut
  • ActsSocial - a Christian Social Media App