A37: The
Urim and Thummim are rather mysterious objects. The Bible does not
specifically describe them. Even their names—possibly, Urim,
"light" and Thummim, "perfection"—give scholars
scarcely a clue to their form and function. Exodus
28:30 says that the Urim and Thummim were placed in a breastplate
that Aaron, the high priest, wore. One of the functions of this
breastplate was to reveal God's judgment, an account of which
Moses records in
Numbers
27:21. In this case, the Urim revealed what God wanted Israel to
do. Saul and David probably consulted the Urim and Thummim through the
high priest
(I
Samuel 14:36-37; 23:2-4;
etc.). Biblical use of the Urim and Thummim is not specifically
mentioned after the reign of David.
Josephus, a well-known
Jewish historian from the first century AD,
wrote about the Urim and Thummim in his Antiquities of the Jews.
The Thummim, he writes, were twelve stones which were set in three
rows of four stones in the breastplate. He describes the Urim as being
two sardonyx stones that were placed on the shoulders of the high
priest. When God wished to guide the Israelites, He often did so by
means of these stones. Josephus states, ". . . 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".
These few details from
historical tradition plus the brief mention in the Bible is all the
information presently available on this subject.
