Urim and Thummim

Definition

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.

Etymology

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.

Example Sentences

• "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; […]"
• "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."
• "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)."