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Easton's Bible Dictionary
lights (Vulgate "doctrina;" LXX. "revelation"). See THUMMIM
.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
lights; fires
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(light and perfection)
When the Jewish exiles were met on their return from Babylon by a question which
they had no data for answering, they agreed to postpone the settlement of the
difficulty till there should rise up "a priest with Urim and Thummim." ( Ezra
2:63 ; Nehemiah 7:65 ) The inquiry what those Urim and Thummim themselves were
seems likely to wait as long for a final and satisfying answer. On every side
we meet with confessions of ignorance. Urim means "light," and Thummim "perfection."
Scriptural statements. --
The mysterious words meet us for the first time, as if they needed no explanation,
in the description of the high Priests apparel. Over the ephod there is to be
a "breastplate of judgment" of gold, scarlet, purple and fine linen, folded square
and doubled, a "span" in length and width. In it are to be set four rows of precious
stones, each stone with the name of a tribe of Israel engraved on it, that Aaron
"may bear them on his heart." Then comes a further order. In side the breastplate,
as the tables of the covenant were placed inside the ark, ( Exodus 25:16 ; 28:30
) are to be placed "the Urim and the Thummim," the light and the perfection; and
they too are to be on Aarons heart when he goes in before the Lord. ( Exodus 28:15
- 30 ) Not a word describes them. They are mentioned as things-already familiar
both to Moses and the people, connected naturally with the functions of the high
priest as mediating between Jehovah and his people. The command is fulfilled.
( Leviticus 8:8 ) They pass from Aaron to Eleazar with the sacred ephod and other
pontificalia . ( Numbers 20:28 ) When Joshua is solemnly appointed to succeed
the great hero-law-giver he is bidden to stand before Eleazar, the priest, "who
shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim," and this counsel is to
determine the movements of the host of Israel. ( Numbers 27:21 ) In the blessings
of Moses they appear as the crowning glory of the tribe of Levi: "thy Thummim
and thy Urim are with thy Holy One." ( Deuteronomy 33:8 , 33:9 ) In what way the
Urim and Thummim were consulted is quite uncertain. Josephus and the rabbins supposed
that the stones gave out the oracular answer by preternatural illumination; but
it seems to be far simpler and more in agreement with the different accounts of
inquiries made by Urim and Thummim, ( 1 Samuel 14:3 , 14:18 , 14:19 ; 23:2 , 23:4
, 23:9 , 23:11 , 23:12 ; 28:6 ; Judges 20:28 ; 2 Samuel 5:23 ) etc., to suppose
that the answer was given simply by the word of the Lord to the high priest comp.
( John 11:51 ) when, clothed with the ephod and the breastplate, he had inquired
of the Lord. Such a view agrees with the true notion of the breastplate.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
u'-rim and thum'-im (ha-'urim weha-tummim (article omitted
in Ezra 2:63 ; Nehemiah 7:65); perhaps "light and perfection," as intensive plurals):
1. Definition:
Articles not specifically described, placed in (next to, or on (Hebrew 'el; Septuagint
epi; Samaritan-Hebrew 'al)) the high priest's breastplate, called the "breast-plate
of decision" (English Versions of the Bible, "judgment"). (Exodus 28:30 ; Leviticus
8:8). Their possession was one of the greatest distinctions conferred upon the
priestly family (Deuteronomy 33:8; Ecclesiasticus 45:10), and seems to have been
connected with the function of the priests as the mouthpiece of Yahweh, as well
as with the ceremonial side of the service (Exodus 28:30 ; compare Arabic kahin,
"soothsayer").
2. Use in the Old Testament:
Through their use, the nature of which is a matter of conjecture, the divine will
was sought in national crises, and apparently the future foretold, guilt or innocence
established, and, according to one theory, land divided (Babha' Bathra' 122a;
Sanhedrin 16a). Thus, Joshua was to stand before Eleazar who was to inquire for
him after the judgment (decision) of the Urim (Numbers 27:21). It seems that this
means was employed by Joshua in the matter of Achan (Joshua 7:14 , 18) and overlooked
in the matter of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:14). Though not specifically mentioned,
the same means is in all probability referred to in the accounts of the Israelites
consulting Yahweh after the death of Joshua in their warfare (Judges 1:1 , 2 ;
20:18 , 26 - 28). The Danites in their migration ask counsel of a priest, perhaps
in a similar manner (Judges 18:5 , 7). It is not impossible that even the prophet
Samuel was assisted by the Urim in the selection of a king (1 Samuel 10:20 - 22).
During Saul's war with the Philistines, he made inquiry of God with the aid of
the priest (1 Samuel 14:36 , 37), Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, who at that time
wore the ephod (1 Samuel 14:3). Although on two important occasions Yahweh refused
to answer Saul through the Urim (1 Samuel 14:37 ; 28:6), it appears (from the
Septuagint version of 1 Samuel 14:41; see below) that he Used the Urim and Thummim
successfully in ascertaining the cause of the divine displeasure. The accusation
of Doeg and the answer of the high priest (1 Samuel 22:10 , 13 , 15) suggest that
David began to inquire of Yahweh through the priesthood, even while he was an
officer of Saul. After the massacre of the priests in Nob, Abiathar fled to the
camp of David (1 Samuel 22:20), taking with him the ephod (including apparently
the Urim and Thummim, 1 Samuel 23:6) which David used frequently during his wanderings
(1 Samuel 23:2 - 4 , 9 - 12 ; 30:7 , 8), and also after the death of Saul (2 Samuel
2:1 ; 5:19 , 23 ; 21:1). After the days of David, prophecy was in the ascendancy,
and, accordingly, we find no clear record of the use of the Urim and Thummim in
the days of the later kings (compare, however, Hosea 3:4 ; Ecclesiasticus 33:3).
Still, in post-exilic times we find the difficult question of the ancestral right
of certain priests to eat of the most holy things reserved till there would stand
up a priest with Urim and with Thummim (Ezra 2:63 ; Nehemiah 7:65 ; 1 Esdras 5:40
; Sotah 48b).
3. Older (Traditional) Views:
Though Josephus sets the date for the obsolescence of the Urim and Thummim at
200 years before his time, in the days of John Hyrcanus (Ant., III, viii, 9),
the Talmud reckons the Urim and Thummim among the things lacking in the second
Temple (Sotah 9 10 ; Yoma' 21b ; Yeru Qid. 65b). Both Josephus and the Talmud
identify the Urim and Thummim with the stones of the breastplate. The former simply
states that the stones shone whenever the shekhinah was present at a sacrifice
or when the army proceeded to battle.
"God declared beforehand by those twelve stones which the high priest bare on
his breast, and which were inserted into his breastplate, when they should be
victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from them before the
army began to march, that all the people were sensible of God's being present
for their assistance" (Ant., III, viii, 9).
The Talmudic explanation suggests that by the illumination of certain letters
the divine will was revealed, and that in order to have a complete alphabet, in
addition to the names of the tribes, the breastplate bore the names of the patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. and the words shibhTe yeshurun. A later scholar even
suggests that the letters moved from their places to form words (Yoma' 73a,b).
Characteristically enough the Talmud prescribes rules and suggestions for the
consultation of the non-existing Urim and Thummim: that the one asking must be
a man of public importance, that the question must pertain to the public weal;
that the priest must face the shekhinah (west); that one question be asked at
a time, and so forth (same place).
It is difficult to tell just how much, if anything, of a lingering tradition is
reflected in the view that the Urim and Thummim and stones of the breast-plate
were identical. In the absence of other ancient clues, however, it is not safe
to reject even the guesses of the Jews of the second temple in favor of our own.
We do not even know the meaning of the word choshen, so confidently translated
"pouch" or "receptacle" by opponents of the older view, without any basis whatever.
On the other hand the theory of identification was widespread. Even Philo leans
toward it in his De Monarchia, although in his Vita Mosis (iii) he seems to have
in mind two small symbols representing Light and Truth embroidered on the cloth
of the choshen or hung round the neck of the high priest, similar to the Egyptian
symbol of justice. Another very old view is that the Urim and Thummim consisted
of a writing containing the Ineffable Name (Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 28:20; compare
Rashi and Nachmanides at the place).
4. Recent (Critical) Views:
The view most generally held today is that the Urim and Thummim were two sacred
lots, one indicating an affirmative or favorable answer, the other a negative
or unfavorable answer (Michaelis, Ewald, Wellhausen, Robertson Smith, Driver,
G. F. Moore, Kennedy, Muss-Arnolt). The chief support of this view is found, not
in the Massoretic Text, but in the reconstruction by Wellhausen and Driver of
1 Samuel 14:41 on the basis of the Septuagint: "If this fault be in me or in Jonathan,
my son, give Urim (dos delous), and if it be in thy people Israel, give Thummim
(dos hosioteta)." The following sentence clearly suggests the casting of lots,
possibly lots on which the names of Saul and Jonathan were written, and "Jonathan"
was taken. Efforts have been made to support the view that the Urim and Thummim
themselves were sacred lots on the basis of analogous customs among other peoples
(e.g. pre-Islamic Arabs (Moore in EB) andBabylonians (W. Muss-Arnolt in Jew Encyclopedia
and AJSL, July, 1900)). It must be borne in mind, however, that whatever the lot-theory
has to recommend it, it is inconsistent not only with the post-Biblical traditions,
but also with the Biblical data. For those who are not inclined to give much weight
to the passages connecting the Urim and Thummim with the high priest's apparel
(Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8, both "P"), there is of course no difficulty in dissociating
the two, in spite of the fact that for the use of this system of divination the
one thing necessary in the historical passages on which they rely seems to be
the ephod. Still, if we are to think of two lots, one called and possibly marked
"Urim" and the other "Thummim," it is difficult to get any meaning from the statement
(1 Samuel 14:37; 28:6) that Yahweh did not answer Saul on certain occasions, unless
indeed we surmise for the occasion the existence of a third nameless blank lot.
A more serious difficulty arises from the fact that the answers ascribed to the
Urim and Thummim are not always the equivalent of "yes" or "no" (compare Judges
1:2 ; 20:18 ; 1 Samuel 22:10 ; 2 Samuel 5:23 ; 21:1), even if we omit from consideration
the instances where an individual is apparently pointed out from all Israel (compare
the instances of the detection of Achan and the selection of Saul with that of
Jonathan, above).
5. Etymology:
If we turn to etymology for assistance, we are not only on uncertain ground, but
when Babylonian and other foreign words are brought in to bolster up a theory
abput anything so little understood as the Urim and Thummim, we are on dangerous
ground. Thus, Muss-Arnolt is ready with Babylonian words (urtu, "command," and
tamitu, "oracular decision"); others suggest tme, the Egyptian image of justice;
still others connect Urim with 'arar, to curse," in order to make it an antonym
of tummim, "faultlessness." It is generally admitted, however, that, as pointed
in the Massoretic Text, the words mean "light" and "perfection," on the basis
of which the Talmud (Yoma' 73b) as well as most of the Greek versions translated
them (delosis kai aletheia; photismoi kai teleiotetes), although Symmachus in
one place (Deuteronomy 33:8), who is followed by the Vulgate, connects Urim with
the word Torah and understands it to mean "doctrine" (teleiotes kai didache).
Though loth to add to the already overburdened list of conjectures about these
words, it appears to the present writer that if Urim and Thummim are antonyms,
and Urim means "light," it is by no means difficult to connect Thummim with darkness,
inasmuch as there is a host of Hebrew stems based on the root -tm, all indicating
concealing, closing up, and even darkness (compare ... (see Job 40:13), ... and
even and cognate Arabic words in BDB). This explanation would make Urim and Thummim
mean "illuminated" and "dark" (compare Caster in Hastings, ERE, IV, 813), and,
while fitting well with the ancient theories or traditions, would not be excluded
by the recent theory of lots of opposite purport.
Nathan Isaacs
Tags:
bible commentary, bible reference, bible study, define, history of, light and perfection, urim and thummim
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