The Glory of Light or a Short Treatise Showing Urim Thummim to Be Made by Art

Elements of the breastplate worn by the Jewish High Priest

In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim (Hebrew: אוּרִים‎ ʾŪrīm, "lights") and the Thummim (Hebrew: תֻּמִּים‎ Tummīm, meaning uncertain, peradventure "perfections") are elements of the hoshen, the breastplate worn by the High Priest fastened to the ephod. They are connected with divination in full general, and cleromancy in particular. Virtually scholars suspect that the phrase refers to a gear up of 2 objects used by the high priest to respond a question or reveal the volition of God.^{[1] [2]}

The Urim and the Thummim first appear in Exodus 28:xxx, where they are named for inclusion on the breastplate to be worn by Aaron in the holy place. Other books, especially 1 Samuel, describe their uses in divination.

Name and meaning [edit]

Urim (אוּרִים‎) traditionally has been taken to derive from a root pregnant lights; these derivations are reflected in the Neqqudot of the Masoretic Text.^[iii] In consequence, Urim and Thummim has traditionally been translated as "lights and perfections" (by Theodotion, for example), or, by taking the phrase allegorically, equally meaning "revelation and truth", or "doctrine and truth" (it appears in this form in the Vulgate, in the writing of St. Jerome, and in the Hexapla).^[four] The latter use was defended in modern Catholic interpretations by connecting Urim and Thummim from the roots ירה (to teach) and אׇמַן (be true).^[2]

Thummim (תוּמִים‎) is widely considered to exist derived from the consonantal root ת.מ.ם‎ (t-m-m), meaning innocent,^{[1] [iv] [three]} Many scholars now believe that Urim (אוּרִים‎) merely derives from the Hebrew term אּרּרִים‎ (Arrim), significant "curses", and thus that Urim and Thummim essentially ways "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".^{[1] [3]}

Assyriologist William Muss-Arnolt connected the singular forms—ur and tumm—with the Babylonian terms ūrtu and tamītu, meaning "oracle" and "command", respectively. According to his theory the Hebrew words apply a pluralis intensivus to enhance their credible majesty, not to indicate the presence of more one.^[four] Along these lines the urim and thummim are hypothesized to derive from the Tablets of Destiny worn by Marduk on his breast according to Babylonian religion).^{[2] [a]}

Form and role [edit]

1 Samuel fourteen:41 is regarded past biblical scholars as central to understanding the Urim and Thummim;^[4] the passage describes an attempt to place a sinner via divination, by repeatedly splitting the people into ii groups and identifying which group contains the sinner. In the version of this passage in the Masoretic Text, it describes Saul and Jonathan existence separated from the residuum of the people, and lots being cast between them; the Septuagint version, nevertheless, states that Urim would indicate Saul and Jonathan, while Thummim would indicate the people. In the Septuagint, a previous verse^[6] uses a phrase which is unremarkably translated every bit "inquired of God", which is significant as the grammatical grade of the Hebrew implies that the research was performed by objects beingness 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 existence cast.^{[iii] [2] [ disputed – talk over ]}

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.^[vii] Where the biblical text elsewhere describes an Ephod beingness used for divination, scholars presume that it is referring to use of the Urim and Thummim in conjunction with the Ephod, every bit this seems to be intimately connected with it;^{[4] [2]} similarly where non-prophets are portrayed as asking God for guidance, and the advice is not described equally given by visions, scholars think that Urim and Thummim were the medium implied.^[three] In all but 2 cases (1 Samuel 10:22 and two Samuel v:23), the question is ane which is finer answered past a uncomplicated "yes" or "no";^[iii] a number of scholars^{[ who? ]} believe that the two exceptions to this pattern, which give more circuitous answers, were originally as well simply sequences of "yes" or "no" questions, merely became corrupted by later editing.^[3]

There is no description of the form of the Urim and Thummim in the passage describing the high priest's vestments, and a number of scholars^{[ who? ]} believe that the author of the passage, which textual scholars aspect to the priestly source, was not actually entirely aware of what they were either.^[3] Nevertheless, the passage does describe them as being put into the breastplate, which scholars think implies they were objects put into some sort of pouch within information technology, and so, while out of view, one (or i side, if the Urim and Thummim was a single object) was chosen past touch on and withdrawn or thrown out;^[3] since the Urim and Thummim were put within this pouch, they were presumably pocket-size and fairly flat, and were possibly tablets of wood or of bone.^[3] Considering the scholars' conclusion that Urim essentially means "guilty" and Thummim essentially means "innocent", this would imply that the purpose of the Urim and Thummim was an ordeal to confirm or refute suspected guilt; if the Urim was selected it meant guilt, while selection of the Thummim would mean innocence.

According to classical rabbinical literature, in order for the Urim and Thummim to give an respond, information technology was first necessary for the individual to stand facing the fully dressed loftier priest, and vocalise the question briefly and in a simple mode, though information technology was not necessary for information technology to be loud enough for anyone else to hear it.^[four] Maimonides^[8] explains that the High Priest would stand up facing the Ark of the Covenant with the inquirer backside him, facing the Priest'due south back. Later on the inquirer asked his question, the Holy Spirit would immediately overcome the Priest and he would see the letters protruding in a prophetic vision.^[9] The Talmudic rabbis argued that Urim and Thummim were words written on the sacred breastplate.^[10] Most of the Talmudic rabbis, and Josephus, post-obit the belief that Urim meant "lights", argued that divination by Urim and Thummim involved questions beingness answered by great rays of light shining out of certain jewels on the breastplate; each precious stone was taken to stand for dissimilar messages, and the sequence of lighting thus would spell out an respond (though at that place were 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and only 12 jewels on the breastplate);^{[11] [12] [13]} 2 Talmudic rabbis, even so, argued that the jewels themselves moved in a way that fabricated them stand up out from the residual, or even moved themselves into groups to form words.^[14]

According to Islamic sources, in that location was a similar form of divination among the Arabs before the beginning of Islam.^[three] In that location, two arrow shafts (without heads or feathers), on ane of which was written "command" and the other "prohibition" or similar, were kept in a container, and stored in the Kaaba at Mecca;^[three] whenever someone wished to know whether to get married, go on a journey, or to make another similar decision, one of the Kaaba's guardians would randomly pull one of the arrow shafts out of the container, and the word written upon it was said to signal the volition of the god concerning the matter in question.^[3] Sometimes a third, blank, pointer shaft would be used, to correspond the refusal of the deity to give an answer.^[3] This practice is called rhabdomancy, after the Greek roots rhabd- "rod" and -mancy ("divination").

History of use [edit]

The starting time reference to Urim and Thummim in the Bible is the description in the Book of Exodus concerning the high priest's vestments;^[15] the chronologically earliest passage mentioning them, according to textual scholars, is in the Book of Hosea,^[16] where information technology is implied, by reference to the Ephod, that the Urim and Thummim were key elements in the pop form of the Israelite organized religion,^[3] in the mid 8th century BC.^[4] Consulting the Urim and Thummim was said to be permitted for determining territorial boundaries, and was said to be required, in addition to permission from the king or a prophet, if there was an intention to expand Jerusalem or the Temple in Jerusalem;^{[17] [18] [19] [xx]} however, these rabbinical sources did question, or at least tried to justify, why Urim and Thummim would be required when a prophet was also nowadays.^[21] The classical rabbinical writers argued that the Urim and Thummim were but permitted to exist consulted by very prominent figures such as regular 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 do good of the people as a whole.^[22] To uncover the sin of Achan the sacred Lots were used by Joshua^[23]Abiathar joined David, who was so in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:twenty-23; 23:vi). 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; one Kings 2:26) and the "king'southward counselor" (1 Chr. 27:33-34). Meanwhile, Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, had been fabricated High Priest. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia Abiathar was deposed from role when he was deserted by the Holy Spirit without which the Urim and Thummin could non be consulted.^[24]

Although Josephus argues that the Urim and Thummim continued to function until the era of the Maccabees,^[25] Talmudic sources are unanimous in like-minded that the Urim and Thummim stopped performance much earlier, when Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians.^{[26] [27] [28]} In a passage from the part of the Volume of Ezra which overlaps with the Volume of Nehemiah, it is mentioned that individuals who were unable to evidence, after the Babylonian captivity had ended, that they were descended from the priesthood before the captivity began, were required to expect until priests in possession of Urim and Thummim were discovered;^[29] this would appear to confirm the statements in the Talmud that the Urim and Thummim had past then been lost.^{[1] [4] [iii]} Indeed, since the priestly source, which textual scholars date to a couple of centuries prior to the captivity, does not appear to know what the Urim and Thummim looked similar, and there is no mention of the Urim and Thummim in the deuteronomic history beyond the death of David, scholars doubtable that apply of them rust-covered some time before the Babylonian conquest,^[three] probably equally a result of the growing influence of prophets at that fourth dimension.^[iv]

Maimonides^[30] states that in the Second Temple the Urim and Thummim actually existed simply 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.^[ix]

Latter Twenty-four hours Saint movement [edit]

Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, said that he used interpreters in guild to translate the Book of Mormon from the gilded plates. The interpreters he described as a pair of stones, fastened to a breastplate joined in a form similar to that of a large pair of spectacles. Smith afterward referred to this object every bit the Urim and Thummim. In 1823, Smith said that the affections Moroni, who had told him most the golden plates, also told him most the Urim and Thummim, "two stones in argent bows" fastened to a breastplate, and the affections intimated that they had been prepared by God to aid in the translation of the plates.^[31] Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, described these Urim and Thummim equally being like "two smooth three-cornered diamonds."^[32]

Smith also said he used the Urim and Thummim to assist him in receiving other divine revelations, including some of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and portions of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Only Oliver Cowdery is claimed to have attempted to use them to receive his own revelation.^[33] Latter Day Saints believe that Smith's Urim and Thummim were functionally identical to the biblical Urim and Thummim.^{[ citation needed ]}

Smith extended the use of the term "Urim and Thummim" to draw the home place of God, the world in a future state, and the white stone mentioned in the Book of Revelation.^[34]

In popular culture [edit]

In accord 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 Indiana University and the University of Montana. Similarly, Northeastern University'southward motto is Lux, Veritas, Virtus ("Low-cal, Truth, Virtue"). Urim and Thummim itself is emblazoned in Hebrew beyond the open book pictured on the Yale University coat of arms, and the translation Lux et Veritas appears below on a banner.^[35]

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

• Urim and Thummim were the names given to two objects of mystical engineering science in the Prosopopeia transmedia series, culminating in the International Emmy Award-winning participatory drama serial The Truth About Marika by SVT and The visitor P.
• In the tv set series Dig, the breastplate that is a part of the mystery is said to exist the breastplate of the High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem and used to communicate with God.
• In Paulo Coelho'due south 1988 novel The Alchemist, Urim and Thummim are black and white fortune-telling stones that Melchizedek gives to Santiago, with their colors representing "yeah" and "no" answers to questions.^[36]
• In John Bellairs' young adult novel The Revenge of the Sorcerer's Ghost, the 2 principal characters become in search of the Urim and Thummim, imagined every bit stones with healing powers.

Meet also [edit]

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

Notes and citations [edit]

1. ^ 1 Samuel 28:3–half dozen mentions three methods of divine advice – dreams, prophets, and the Urim and Thummim; the first two of these are also mentioned copiously in Assyrian and Babylonian literature, and such literature likewise mentions Tablets of Destiny, which are like in some means to the Urim and Thummim. The Tablets of Destiny had to rest on the breast of deities mediating between the other gods and mankind in guild to function, while the Urim and Thummim had to residue within the breastplate of the priest mediating betwixt God and mankind. Marduk was said to take put his seal on the Tablets of Destiny, while the Israelite breastplate had a jewelled stone upon information technology for each of the Israelite tribes, which may derive from the aforementioned principle.^[4] Similar the Urim and Thummim, the Tablets of Destiny came into use when the fate of male monarch and nation was concerned. According to some archaeologists, the Israelites emerged as a subculture from within Canaanite social club, and not as an invading force from exterior, and therefore it would be natural for them to accept used like religious practices to other Semitic nations,^[v] and these scholars doubtable that the concept of Urim and Thummim was originally derived from the Tablets of Destiny.^{[4] [2]}

1. ^ ^{a b c d} A Commentary on the Bible, ed. Arthur Peake, p. 191 etc. (1919).
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} William Muss-Arnolt, "The Urim and Thummim: A Proposition as to their Original Nature and Significance", American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (standing Hebraica), Vol. 16, No. 4, July 1900.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f 1000 h i j k l m n o p q} George Foote Moore, "Urim and Thummim", Encyclopedia Biblica, ed. Cheyne & Black, vol. 4 (Q−Z), cols. 5235–5237 (1903).
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} 'Hirsch, Emil G.; Muss-Arnolt, William; Bacher, Wilhelm; Blau, Ludwig (1906). "Urim and Thummim". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 384–385.
5. ^ Israel Finkelstein, The Bible Unearthed
6. ^ one Samuel 14:37
7. ^ Exodus 28:13–30
8. ^ Maimonides. הלכות כלי המקדש והעובדין בו פ"י הי"א (in Hebrew) – via Wikisource.
9. ^ ^{a b} Yitzchok Frankfurter (Feb 21, 2018). "The Uniqueness of the Urim V'tumim". Ami Magazine. No. 356. p. 24.
10. ^ Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 28:30
11. ^ Yoma 73a-b
12. ^ Yoma 44c in the Jerusalem Talmud
13. ^ Sifre, Numbers 141
14. ^ Yoma 73b
15. ^ Exodus 28:30
16. ^ Hosea iii:4
17. ^ Sanhedrin 16a
18. ^ Yoma 41b (Jerusalem Talmud)
19. ^ Shebbit 2-3, and 16a
20. ^ Shebbit 33d (Jerusalem Talmud)
21. ^ Sanhedrin 19b (Jerusalem Talmud)
22. ^ Yoma 7; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 28:thirty
23. ^ Ginzberg, Louis (1901). "Achan". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
24. ^ Ginzberg, Louis (1901). "Abiathar". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 56.
25. ^ Josephus Antiquities of the Jews (volume 3) 8:9
26. ^ Sotah 9:12 & 48a-b
27. ^ "Yoma 21b:7". www.sefaria.org.
28. ^ "Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 41b". world wide web.sefaria.org.
29. ^ Ezra 2:63, which is besides Nehemiah vii:65
30. ^ Maimonides. הלכות כלי המקדש והעובדין בו פ"י ה"י (in Hebrew) – via Wikisource.
31. ^ Joseph Smith–History ^{[ dead link ]} . The Urim and Thummim were said to have been institute with the golden plates, the aforementioned breastplate, and the Sword of Laban.
32. ^ Smith, Lucy Mack (1853). "Biographical sketches of Joseph Smith the prophet, and his progenitors for many generations". Brigham Young University Religious Education Annal. p. 101. Retrieved 2006-02-02 . Information technology [Joseph's Urim and Thummim]; too at EMD, 1: 328-29.
33. ^ Section 9
34. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 130:8–10.
35. ^ "How Hebrew Came to Yale". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org . Retrieved 2018-04-16 .
36. ^ "The symbol of Urim and Thummim in The Alchemist". LitCharts . Retrieved 2020-01-28 .

External links [edit]

• 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 past Cyrus Scofield
• The Urim V'tumim: The History of Yale'due south Insignia and Jewish Idea Today at westvilleshul.org, past Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol – B'nai Israel, the Westville Synagogue, New Haven, Connecticut

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urim_and_Thummim

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