Commentaries:
<< Exodus 28:29 Exodus 28:31 >>
What Are the 'Urim and Thummim' (Exodus 28:30)?The Urim and Thummim are rather mysterious objects. The Bible does not specifically describe them. Even their names—possibly, Urim, "light" and Thummim, "perfection"—give scholars scarcely a clue to their form and function. Exodus 28:30 says that the Urim and Thummim were placed in a breastplate that Aaron, the high priest, wore. One of the functions of this breastplate was to reveal God's judgment, an account of which Moses records in Numbers 27:21. In this case, the Urim revealed what God wanted Israel to do. Saul and David probably consulted the Urim and Thummim through the high priest (I Samuel 14:36-37; 23:2-4; etc.). Biblical use of the Urim and Thummim is not specifically mentioned after the reign of David.
Josephus, a well-known Jewish historian from the first century AD, wrote about the Urim and Thummim in his Antiquities of the Jews. The Thummim, he writes, were twelve stones which were set in three rows of four stones in the breastplate (3.7.5). He describes the Urim as being two sardonyx stones that were placed on the shoulders of the high priest (3.8.9). When God wished to guide the Israelites, He often did so by means of these stones. Josephus states, ". . . God declared beforehand, by those twelve stones which the high priest bare on his breast, and which were inserted into his breastplate, when they should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from them before the army began to march, that all the people were sensible of God's being present for their assistance" (¶216-217).
These few details from historical tradition plus the brief mention in the Bible is all the information presently available on this subject.
Additional Scriptures: Ezra 2:63; Hosea 3:4
Exodus 28:30
Excerpted from: The Priesthood of God (Part 8)God is making an interesting little notation there. He could have said to just put it on Aaron's chest, but He said it had to be over his heart.
Nobody knows with absolute certainty what the Urim and Thummim were. The terms mean "lights" and "perfection." Most commentators think they were two precious stones small enough to be placed in the pouch of the breastplate—perhaps about the same size of the precious stones that were attached to the breastplate, but the Urim and Thummim were loose. They were not attached, and they were placed in the pouch of the breastplate when it was folded over.
Verse 30 says "the breastplate of judgment." An alternate name, which the commentators say is a correct way of translating it as well, was "the ornament of decision." It was ornamental, and it was used in the making of decisions.
It almost seems at times that the main purpose of the breastplate was to hold the Urim and Thummim. They were that important to the life of Israel. This means that the breastplate was a decision-making instrument that the high priest bore for the well-being of the entire nation. This begins to delineate something, because it appears that the overall purpose of the breastplate was to serve as a reminder to Israelites of the values that God placed on each individual. Now how did it do this? It did it through the names that were written on the stones. Names that were written on the stones represented the entire population. Each tribe's name was written down, and it represented everybody in that tribe.
The entire Israelitish population was represented on the high priest's heart, showing that God intended it be an instrument of judgment, which takes emotions, healings, affections, and things of that nature into account as he is making decisions in behalf of the entire nation.
<< Exodus 28:29 Exodus 28:31 >>
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