Urim and Thummim

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Urim and Thummim

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Urim and Thummim

From Biblical Hebrew אוּרִים (ʾûrîm) and תומים / תֻּמִּים (tummîm). Traditionally the Hebrew has been understood, and sometimes translated, as “Light and Truth” owing to the similarity to אוֹרִים (ʾôrîm, “lights”) and תָּמִים (tāmîm, “complete, morally upright, in accordance with truth”), an interpretation that has contributed to the terms’ association with clairvoyance. There is no consensus on the validity of this reading in the original biblical context, particularly for Thummim.

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Urim and Thummim pl (plural only)

1. Certain sacred objects (whose precise form and nature is unknown) that were worn on the breastplate of the Jewish high priest, as described in the Bible, and used in divination or casting lots.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The Third Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 55, lines 12–16:

     Should Kings and Nations from thy mouth conſult, / Thy Counſel would be as the Oracle / Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems / On Aaron’s breaſt: or tongue of Seers old / Infallible; […]

   • 1961, Roland de Vaux, “The Priestly Office”, in Ancient Israel‎, volume 2, McGraw-Hill Book Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 353:

     If the description of the ephod and of the ‘breast-plate’ of the high priest in Ex 28: 6-30 comes (basically) from the last years of the monarchy, it was no longer an instrument for giving oracles; it is significant that the Urim and Thummim are mentioned there, but not described in minute detail, as all the other ornaments of the high priest are; they are probably mentioned to give an archaic touch, and the writer himself probably did not know exactly what they were. […]
     Esd 2:63=Ne 7:65 says that after the Exile there was no priest to handle the Urim and Thummim; this is confirmed by the Jewish tradition which often repeats that there was neither Urim nor Thummim in the second Temple. One text of the Talmud (Sota 48a) even asserts that there had been no Urim and Thummim since the death of the ‘first prophets’, i.e. Samuel, David and Solomon.

   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 230:

     With the aid of ‘George’, the disembodied spirit of an executed felon, Wharton and Wildman looked for treasure at Somerset House, exorcised four devils (Wildman heard one of them ‘hiss’), and embarked on a quest for the Urim and Thummim from the breastplate of the high priest of the Temple (Wildman calculated that the jewels alone would be worth £25,000).

   • 2009 July 11, John Schwartz, “There’s No Future in Being an Oracle”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on November 26, 2022, The U.S. Economy Today‎:

     I decided to return to the ancients. The Bible says the high priest of the ancient Hebrews relied on oracular doodads called the Urim and Thummim. Nobody these days knows precisely what they were or how they were used, and there are only a handful of mentions in the Bible. The problem is that the Urim and Thummim have disappeared.
     That is, unless somebody isn’t telling. […]
     This brought me back to Mr. Buffett. While his record isn’t perfect, his investing prowess is legendary. Could he be getting some help from the ancient oracular doodads?
     I called Omaha. A woman with a friendly and professional voice answered the phone at Mr. Buffett’s office. I explained that I was a reporter from The New York Times, and that I was searching for the Urim and Thummim.
     “I don’t even know what you’re referencing,” she said.
     No problem. Nobody knows what the Urim and Thummim were, I explained. This didn’t seem to help, and her tone went from confused to cool.
     I asked her name. “I don’t think I’m going to tell you,” she said.
     Could she at least let me know if Mr. Buffett might have left the Urim and Thummim just, you know, lying around?
     “I’m going to have to let you go, sir. Thank you.” And with that — you might find this hard to believe — she hung up on me.

2. (Mormonism) Instruments by which divine revelation can be understood; often specifically the tools that Joseph Smith, Jr. said he had found on the hill Cumorah and used to interpret the golden plates.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:Urim and Thummim.