URIM E TUMMIM

URIM AND THUMMIM. — Mysterious objects used in ancient Israel to obtain sacred lots (1 Sam 28:6). The most probable meaning of the two names is “light” and “integrity,” but it remains uncertain to what the two names referred (the guilt or innocence of an individual? cf. 1 Sam 14:41: Septuagint).

They were kept in a small pouch hanging from the breast of the high priest, who alone was permitted to use them (Ex 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; Deut 33:8). They were considered part of the priestly vestments. The ephod (q.v.), in fact, implicitly included them, though never explicitly mentioned with it (1 Sam 14:18, critical text; 23:9; 30:7). Their use, attested several times in the time of Saul and David, later disappears, perhaps supplanted by prophecy; by the time of Ezra, there was only the hope that God would raise up a priest who could use them (Ezra 2:63). How responses were obtained through the Urim and Thummim is mentioned only in 1 Sam 14:41, Septuagint (doubtful text, lacking in the sacred-sotetical text). When the perpetrator of a fault during a military campaign was unknown, Saul placed himself and his son Jonathan on one side and the army on the other and said: “If the fault is in me or in my son, O Lord, God of Israel, give the Urim; but if it is in Israel, your people, give the Thummim.” The lot fell upon Jonathan and Saul; when the trial was repeated between father and son, the lot designated Jonathan. Apart from the fanciful interpretations of later Judaism, this episode suggests that the two objects were two small stones, differing in material, color, and shape, one called Urim, the other Thummim; the high priest mixed them in the pouch and drew one, to which, by prior designation, the response was entrusted.

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