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URIM AND THUMMIM

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 797 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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URIM AND THUMMIM , in the See also:

Bible. "These descriptive terms are applied to one of the methods of See also:divination employed by the See also:ancient See also:Hebrews, which, it is now generally agreed, consisted in a See also:species of sacred See also:lot. Together with " dreams" and the prophetic See also:oracle it formed the recognized channel by which divine communications were given (cf. 1 Sam. See also:xxviii. 6). That some method of casting lots is denoted by the terms is evident from 1 Sam. xiv. 41 f. The See also:Hebrew See also:text in this passage, as emended by the LXX and in this See also:form generally accepted, runs as follows: " And See also:Saul said: ` O See also:Jehovah, See also:God of See also:Israel, why dost See also:Thou not See also:answer Thy servant to-See also:day? If this See also:fault be in me or in See also:Jonathan my son, give Urim, and if it be in Thy See also:people Israel, give Thummim.' And the lot See also:fell upon Saul and Jonathan, and the people escaped. And Saul said: `See also:Cast (the lot) between me and Jonathan my son, and on whomsoever Jehovah shall cause the lot to fall let him See also:die.' So they cast (the lot) between him and Jonathan his son, and Jonathan was taken." From this See also:illuminating passage it is clear (a) that by means of the Urim and Thummim the See also:guilt or innocence of the suspected parties was determined; (b) that this was effected by a See also:series of categorical questions implying the See also:simple alternative of " yes " or " no," or something See also:positive or negative. A further inference (c) from a comparison of r Sam. xiv. 41 f. with ver.

36 (See also:

Greek text) is that this method of casting the sacred lot was closely connected with divination by the See also:ephod (q.v.), and was the See also:prerogative of the priests. This last point appears explicitly in the " Blessing of See also:Moses " (Deut. xxxiii.), where the opening words of the See also:Benediction on See also:Levi run thug (text as emended by See also:Ball, following LXX; P.S.B.A. 1896, 118 f.) : " Give to Levi Thy Thummim, And Thy Urim to the See also:man of Thy favour." Similar modes of divination were practised, it would seem, among the pre-Islamic See also:Arabs. The following See also:custom is cited by See also:Professor G. F. See also:Moore,' on the testimony of Moslem writers, as having been in See also:vogue: " Two arrow shafts (without heads or feathers), on one of which was written ' Command,' on the other `See also:Prohibition,' or words of similar purport, were placed in a receptacle, and according as one or the other of them was See also:drawn out it was known whether the proposed enterprise was in accordance with the will of the god and destined to succeed or not " (cf. Prov xvi, 33; Acts i. 26). Regarding the form and material of the Urim and Thummim 1 Encycl. Biblica, iv. (See also:col. 5236), where further details are given.

no details are given in the Old Testament. They seem to have fallen into desuetude at a comparatively See also:

early See also:period. No mention is made of their use in the See also:historical books after the See also:time of See also:David and See also:Solomon, though it is probable that such use is implied in passages where the ephod is mentioned (e.g. See also:Hosea iii. 4). In the See also:post-exilic Priestly See also:Code (i.e. the bulk of the Levitical legislation of the See also:Pentateuch), however, the Urim and Thummim figure as See also:part of the equipment of the high See also:priest (cf. Ex. xxviii. 30; Lev. viii. 8; Num. See also:xxvii. 21). Here it is stated that they are kept in a square pouch which is worn upon the high priest's See also:breast (" the breastplate of See also:judgment "), and attached to the ephod. Thus the association of the Urim and Thummim with the ephod, which appears in the See also:oldest narratives, is retained in the Priestly Code (P).

It is doubtful, however, whether P had any clear notion as to what exactly the Urim and Thummim were. The priestly writer gives no directions as to how they were to be made. They were retained in his ideal legislation, apparently, because their use was already invested with the See also:

mystery of a See also:long-vanished past, and they were regarded as having formed one of the most See also:venerable adjuncts of the priesthood. That this method of divination was not in actual use after the See also:Exile is shown by Neh. vii. 65 (See also:Ezra ii. 63; 1 Esdras v. 40) where an important point affecting the priestly families is reserved " till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim." Later references (Ecclus. xlv. 1o; in See also:Josephus and the See also:Talmud) prove that no real tradition survived on the subject. The See also:identification of them with the jewels of the breastplate and on the shoulders of the high priest (which apparently has the authority of Josephus) is unwarranted; other ancient guesses are equally baseless. Nor has any satisfactory explanation of the names Urim and Thummim been proposed. As vocalized in the Massoretic Hebrew text the names = " See also:Lights and perfection." But the Greek translators read the former 'orim and connected it with torah, " decision "; it would thus=" See also:doctrine "; so See also:Symmachus, cf. 1 Esd. v.

40, where " a high priest wearing Urim and Thummim " (R.V.) is given as " a high priest clothed in doctrine and truth " in A.V. Nor can the See also:

attempt of the See also:American See also:scholar Muss-Arnolt to explain them as cognate with the Babylonian Tablets of Destiny be pronounced successful. Perhaps the conjecture least open to objection is that which regards the terms Urim and Thummim as the. names of two lots2 (perhaps actually written on them) of opposite import. In this See also:case the former of the two names might be derived from the See also:root 'arar, " to curse "; the other from a root meaning " to be without fault." The one would thus signify " that a proposed See also:action was satisfactory to God, the other that it provoked His wrath " (Professor G. F. Moore). But all such explanations are highly See also:precarious.

End of Article: URIM AND THUMMIM

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