Have You Thought Much About the Urim and Thummim?
I don’t know if you’ve thought much about the Urim and Thummim.
The first mention of them can be found in the book of Exodus 28. In verse 15, God tells Moses to make “make a breastpiece of judgment.” The CSB calls it “an embroidered breastpiece for making decisions.” In verse 30, we read:
And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD regularly.
They seem to be part of the breastplate worn by the high priest of Israel. We don’t know what they looked like. Some believe they were two stones — possibly gemstones — or other objects, possibly inscribed with symbols or words. We don’t know for sure.
We also don’t know how they were used. Some think they were a form of lots, like casting dice or drawing straws. Some think that they spelled out answers. Others think that they had numbers on them, or that they had two sides, one saying “yes” and the other “no.” Others think they used colors.
We don’t know what they looked like or how they were used, but we do know that the Israelites used the Urim and Thummim to get guidance from God.
In 1 Samuel 14:41, Saul asked God to use the Urim and Thummim to reveal who had sinned. In Numbers 27:21, Joshua was told to stand before Eleazar the priest, who would ask God for guidance using the Urim. In Ezra 2:63 and Nehemiah 7:65, it says that some decisions were postponed until a priest with Urim and Thummim could ask God for guidance.
The Urim and Thummim are only mentioned a few times, but they also seem to lie in the background of other texts like Joshua 7:14–18, 1 Samuel 14:37–45 and 2 Samuel 21:1. Israel needed the Urim and Thummim to receive divine guidance. The Urim and Thummim were not used for everyday decisions or as a replacement for God's word, but for significant national matters to reveal God's will in response to the prayers of his people.
This sounds strange to modern ears. We have three options:
Option One: The Bible is a strange book written by people with primitive beliefs about God.
Option Two: The individuals mentioned in the Bible were not only unsophisticated and innocent, but also imitated primitive customs from other ancient civilizations that engaged in comparable methods of divination.
Option three: God revealed Himself using the Urim and Thummim and did other things that are hard for us to believe today. God spoke from a burning bush (Exodus 3). He parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14). He made the sun stand still (Joshua 10). He allowed a donkey to talk (Numbers 22).
The Urim and Thummim fade into history. They’re mentioned one last time in Nehemiah 7:65, but it’s unclear if they were ever found or used then.
But they raise an issue for us today. Either we live in a world in which only natural explanations make sense, or we live in a world in which God is active and the supernatural is not only possible but true.
I don’t know if you’ve thought much about the Urim and Thummim, but it’s probably important that you do.
