URIM AND THUMMIM Objects used to ascertain the divine will when questions of national importance needed an answer from Jehovah. As recorded at Leviticus 8:8, Moses, after placing the breastpiece upon Aaron, put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece. While the Hebrew preposition here translated “in” can be rendered “upon,” the same word is used at Exodus 25:16 in speaking of placing the two stone tablets in the ark of the covenant. (Ex 31:18) Some have proposed the suggestion that the Urim and the Thummim were the 12 stones affixed to the breastpiece. That this was not the case is shown by the fact that, in the priestly inauguration ceremony, the completed breastpiece with the 12 stones sewn on it, was put upon Aaron, and then the Urim and Thummim were put in it. Also, a comparison of Exodus 28:9, 12, 30 refutes the theory that they consisted of the two onyx stones on the shoulder pieces of the high priest’s ephod. ( Ex 28:9-14) They evidently were separate objects. Their Use. It is notable that the Urim and the Thummim were to be over Aaron’s heart when he went “in before Jehovah,” doubtless referring to Aaron’s standing in the Holy before the curtain to the Most Holy compartment when inquiring of Jehovah. Their location, “over Aaron’s heart,” would appear to indicate that the Urim and the Thummim were placed in the fold, or pouch, formed by the doubled construction of the breastpiece. They were for “the judgments of the sons of Israel” and were used when a question of importance to the national leaders and consequently to the nation itself needed an answer from Jehovah. Jehovah, Israel’s Lawgiver, would give an answer to the high priest as to the right course to pursue on any matter.— Ex 28:30. David called upon Abiathar to employ the Urim and the Thummim when Abiathar, after escaping the slaughter of the priests of Nob in which his father died, came to David with the ephod. Apparently this was the ephod of the high priest.— 1Sa 22:19, 20; 23:6-15
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 06:02:45 +0000
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