What are Urim and Thummim?

What are these sacred dice?

Before the permanent indwelling and vigorous activity of the Holy Spirit in the old covenant, God gave Urim and Thummim to the high priest. These were sacred stones that the high priest kept over his heart in the ephod breastplate (Ex. 28:30; Lev. 8:8), and they were used to indicate God’s will to the people (1 Sam. 14:41-42).

What do the terms mean? Stuart^[1] states that the terms Urim and Thummim can be translated as “lights” and “darks.” By pulling out stones from the pouch, this would signify either a Yes or a No. Another view is that these were dice with light and dark sides to them. Which is true? Stuart writes, “We have no indication from biblical material that allows us to sort among these options and understand what the Urim and Thummim looked like and how they actually were employed physically.”^[2]

Why did the priest keep this in the breastplate? The priest kept this over his heart, because the will of God should be close to God’s heart.

Is this similar to divination? No. This is dissimilar to divination in a number of ways. First, the use of these sacred stones simply gave a Yes or No answer—unlike the cryptic statements that are most often given in Pagan divination.

Second, the stones gave a clear answer, which everyone could understand. It could be read and interpreted by everyone present—unlike tea leaf reading that takes interpretation (or imagination!) to garner an interpretation.

Third, it was used infrequently and in unusual circumstances—mostly for national guidance and not personal decisions. Typically, the leadership of Israel was governed by the word of God or by prophets. However, in rare circumstances, they were given this means of ascertaining the will of God.

Fourth, God wasn’t obligated to speak through this method. He couldn’t be manipulated by this practice. For instance, some of the kings (like Saul) were denied revelation by God in this way (1 Sam. 28:6), while others (like David) were granted it (1 Sam. 23:6ff).

Fifth, this practice stopped occurring after the time of David. G. Earnest Wright notes, “There is no reference to the practice after the time of David; it probably was little used in subsequent ages.”^[3] Of course, casting lots continued to occur, but this was not the same as these sacred dice.

^[1] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus, vol. 2, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006), 612.

^[2] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus, vol. 2, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006), 612.

[3] Wright, G. Ernest. The Old Testament against Its Environment. Chicago: H. Regnery, 1950. 88.