Urim

URIM and THUMMIM (tonnl ; sept.

SlAwc-ts Kat cDalOeta, etc. Vulg. Doetrina et Veritas). The Hebrew wo;ds are generally con sidered to be plurales excellentioe, denoting lix-ht (i.e. revelation) and truth ; and as used by a me tonymy for the things or modes whereby the revela tion was given and truth declared. They may, however, be duals. A similar view of their con struction and meanin,g pervades the Sept. and Vulg. renderings, under some varieties of expression. There are two principal opinions respecting the Urim and Thummim. One is, that these words simply denote the four rows of precious stones in the breastplate of the high-priest, and are so called from their brilliancy and perfection ; which stones, in answer to an appeal to God in difficult cases, indicated his mind and will by some supernatural appearance. Thus. as we know that upon each of the stones was to be engraven the name of one of the sons of Jacob, it has been conjectured that the letters forming the divine response became some way or other distinguished from the other letters. It has been conjectured by others that the response was given by an audible voice to the high-priest arrayed in full pontificals, and standing in the holy place with his face turned towards the ark. The other principal opinion is, that the Urim and Thum mim were two small oracular images, similar to the Teraphim, personifying revelation and truth, which were placed in the cavity or pouch fonned by the folds of the breastplate, and which uttered oracles by a voice. [PRIEsT, the breastplate ; TERAPHIM1 We propose simply to lay before the reader a state ment of the facts connected with this obscure but interesting subject. It is remarkable that the first time the Urim and Thummim are mentioned in Scripture, they are referred to as things alreaa'y known. After a minute description of the breast plate, which, as we have shown in PRIEST, was to differ in several particulars from that worn by the Egyptian priests, it is simply added, And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim' (Exod. xxviii. 3o). So inde finite, however, is the preposition here trans lated in,' that it may also mean on' or near' (Sept. reads Irri). The Urim and Thummim are, however, here clearly distinguished from the breast plate itself, or from the four rows of gems, unless v,'e can imagine that the breastplate should be so called before the gems, the essential part of it, were put into their place. We observe the like distinc tion made in the accotrnt of Aaron's consecration (Lev. viii. ; comp. Ecolus. xlv. to), and by Josephus (fintig. viii. 3. S), where he distinguishes the Xo-yeiov, or oracle, from the precious stones. So does the Samaritan text, which also states the Urim and Thummim to have been nzade on the occa sion. We think the distinction indicated in these passages of Scripture sufficiently clear to withstand the inference which has been derived from comparing Exod. xxviii. 29 With 30, and Exod. xxxix. 8, etc., with Lev. viii. 8 ; namely, that the Urim and Thum mim were identical with the gems in the breast plate. In Num. xxvii. 21, the word nn'Nri alone is used in a brief recapitulatory manner, and, no doubt, including the Thummim, or else, in the general sense of divine revelations, answers, etc., by this method (Sept. viols TOn, 37)XCJV gIMPTC Kuplov ; comp. I Sam. xxviii. 6 ; Sept. iv ras 80.ots ; Vulg. per sacerdotes). The usual order is reversed in Deut. xxxiii. 8, where it is Thum mim and Urim. The last mention of them occurs after the return of the captivity, when the Tir shatha decreed that certain claimants to the rights of the priesthood, but who could not produce their ecclesiastical pedigree, should wait till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim,' by whom their claim might be infallibly decided (Ezra ii. 63 ; Sept. TOIS 954ITITOVal o-EXeiots ; Vulg.

sacemlos a'octus argue pertains ; Neb. vii. 65, lepeds Ocuric-cov, sacera'os cloctus et eruditus). From these obscure statements of Scripture we naturally turn to Josephus, the professed antiquarian of his nation. He says, when intending to treat of the subject, that God declared beforehand by those twelve stones which the high-priest bore on his breast, and which were inserted into the breastptate, when they should be victorious in battle ; for so g,reat a splendour shone forth from them before the army began to march, that all the people were sensible of God's being present for their assistance, and that the breastplate left off shining two hundred years before he composed that book ' (Antiq. iii. 8. 9 ; see Whiston's Notes in /oc.) On the contrary, Philo, the learned contemporary of Josephus, re presents the Urim and Thummim as two images of the two virtues or powers-80wah, re Kat aN4 19ezav. The full quotation is : T6 Si Xo-ye?ov (the pectoral or breastplate) ; rerperycopov, SorXav 'care criceucig-ero, thczavet PRCILS3 '11,a .660 dperits ch,aXp.aro Oopb. (that they might carry the image of the two powers); Shk(41041, Te Kai DojOetav' (De Vita 'limit, lib. iii. p. 152, t. 2, ed. Mangey). He also uses the following words (De Monarch. lib. ii. p. 824 ; opp. vol. p. 226) : 'Dr/ TOR Xo-yelou Strrol dOcizr ,uarct KaTCZ7rOLICIUEL, 7rpoawyopeticzn, rd fay 57,Xourev, rd S' cilyilgetav. Of the two statements, that of Philo is best supported by certain external evidence, which will now be produced. It had been noticed by all the old commentators, that a remarkable re semblance existed between the Urim and Thum mim of the Jewish high-priest, and the custom recorded by YElian of the Egyptian archjudge, who was always a priest venerable for age, learning, and probity, and who opened judicial proceedings by suspending, by a gold chain hung round his neck (comp. Gen. xli. 42), an image made of a

sapphire stone, which was called 'AX7jOita—i.e. 4Truth,' and with which Diodorus Siculus says he touched (rpocOeiro) the party who had gained the cause. Certain traces of a similar custom among the Romans had also been adverted to—viz. that among the Vestal Virgins, at least she that was called Maxima, and who sat in judgment and tried causes, as the Pontifex Maximus did, wore a similat antepectorale (Lipsius, De Vestal. et Vestal. ; Syn. tasma Ant. ap. Plant. 1603, cap. ult.) But these resemblances among the Egyptians were considered to have been derived by them from the Jews, in consequence of their correspondence with then] after Solomon's marriage with Pharaoh's daughter (Patrick on Exod. xxviii. 30). Subsequent dis coveries, however, among the antiquities of Egypt lead to the conclusion that these resemblances belong to a much earlier period. Sir G. Wilkia son says the figmre of Truth which the Egyptian archiudge suspended from his neck was, in fact, a representation of the goddess who was worshipped under the dual or double character of Truth and justice, and whose name, Thmei, the Egyptian or Coptic name of Justice or Truth (compare the Greek 04.1./s), appears to have been the origin of the Hebrew Thummim—' a word,' he remarks, ' according to the Sept. translation, implying truth, and bearing a further analogy in its plural termi nation.' He also remarks that the word Thum mim, being a plural or dual word, corresponds to the Egyptian notion of the two Truths,' or the double capacity of this goddess. This goddess,' he says, frequently occurs in the sculptures in this double capacity, represented by two figures exactly similar, as in No. 512. It is,' he adds, further observable that the chief-priest of the Jews, who, before the election of a king, was also the judge of the nation, was alone entitled to wear this honorary badge. Does the touch of the suc cessful litigant with the fig,ure, by the Egyptian archjudge, affqrd any illustration of such passages as Is. vi. 7, Jer. i. 9, Esther V. 2, or of those numer ous instances in which touching is represented as the emblem or means of miraculous virtue ? Our authority for these Egyptian antiquities adds, that according to some the Urim and Thummim signify lights and perfections,' or 'light and truth '—which last presents a striking analogy to the two figures ot Re, the sun, and Thmei, truth, in the breast plate worn by the Egyptians (No. 514). Here Thmei is represented, as she is frequently, as a single figure wearing two ostrich feathers, her em blem, because all the wing-feathers of this bird were considered of equal length, and hence meant true or correct' (Manners and Curtoms of the An cient Egyptians, ii. 27, etc. ; v. 28, etc., London 1842. See also other remarks on the dual offices Thmei, in Gallery of Antiquities, selected from the British Museum by F. Arundale and J. Bo. nomi). Upon a view of the preceding facts, we incline to Mr. Mede's opinion, that the Urim and Thummim were things well known to the patri archs,' as divinely appointed means of inquiring of the Lord (Gen. xxv. 22, 23) suited to an infantine state of religion ; that the originals were preserved, or the real use at least, among the Abrahamidx, and at the reformation under Moses were simply recognised ; that the resemblances to them among the Eg-yptians were but imitations of this primeval mode of divine communication, as were the heathen auspices of similar means originally connected with the sacrifice of animals [CAIN ; ABEL ; LIVER]. The speculations of learned Jews and Christians connected with this subject may be seen in Winer's B blisc h. Real- Wiirterbnclz, Leips. 1835, art. Urim und Thummim ;' or in Robinson's Theological Dic tionary, London 1816 ; and some of them in Cru den's Concordance. Dr. Prideaux maintains that the divine answer was given by an audible voice to the high-priests arrayed and standing opposite to the ark (Connection, i. 123, etc.) ; but when David consulted the oracle by Abiathar (I Sam. xxiii. 9, ; xxx. 7, 8), the ark was at Kirjath-jearim, whereas David was in the one case at Ziklag, and in the other in the forest of Hareth. Jahn supposes that the answer was given by the words yes and no inscribed on two stones (a third being left blank for no answer) which the high-priest carried on his breastplate ; and consequently that the Urim and Thummim was the sacred lot referred to in Prov. xvi. 33. The lot is cast (p+nm) into the bosom; but the whole judicial decision is of the Lord (comp. xviii. 18 ; Archool. sec. 37o). Mithaelis also considers it as a lot, which was used in crimi nal cases to discover, not convict the criminal ; for the confessions of the guilty are recorded in the only two instances of this kind mentioned in Scrip ture (Josh. vii. 14-18, and I Sam. xiv. 37-45). Observe the Hebrew or margin of ver. 41, in the last reference. He remarks that the discovery of an unknown murder was not left to these means (Notes on Exod. xxviii. 3o, and Lagos of Moses, art. 3o4). Brannius maintains the notion of Jose phus as to the mode of the divine answer (De Vestitu Sacer. ii. 2o). Spencer maintains that of Philo (De Legib. Heb. lib. iii. Diss. ult.), but is opposed by Pococke (On Hosea, iii. 4, p. 149) See also Buxtorf, flistoria Urinz et Thumminz, in. Exercitt. ad Hist. Basilem 1659 ; Jennings, Jewish Antiquities, i. 233; Witsius, ./Egyptiaca, c. to, etc. Winer also refers to Norris's An-haw/osier, or Miscell. Tracts relating to Antiquity, iv. No. 19 ; Schroeder, Diss. de Grim et Thymniiin, Marb. 1744.; I3ellarmann, Urim u. Thummiin die iiltesten Gemmen, Berl. 1824 ; Stiebriz, Diss. de Variis d. Urini et Thummiin Sententt. Hal. 1753-54.— J. F. D.