The renderings of the ancient VSS give no help either towards the etymology and significance of the original terms, or towards the real nature of the objects themselves.
• In Ps 433 Lagarde (Propheta chald. p. ili-ii) would read ' send forth thy Urim and thy Thummim ' (d. Dt 838). See alM Duhm in Kurztr Bandam. mioe.
UEIM AXD THUMMIM
UKISI AND THUMMIM
839
The Tap(,'Tjni9 and Syr. VS3 merely transliterate ths tiet-. temis. The Or. VSS vary in & reniartiablc way, show-ing that their authors had no tradition to guide them. Kor c"i;K we find the toltowinf; renderings: (u) d^A^Mrir, 'manifestation' (pcrhajia rather ' direction,' ' instruction,' since the correspond- ing Zn>-t^ is used by LXX to render the Uiphil of inn; in Dt 33^0 «nd other synonymous Ileb. verbs). Ex 2S» (LXX 28), Lv 88, 1 Ks S-w ; (6) lr>.ai * [sciV. Xif«i], ' clear,' ' transparent * [jewels, see below], Nu 272", Dt :«», 1 S U" [not in MT| -2^, Sir 45", also Stf" |EV 333], according to the better reading of KA ; of. AVm •as the asking of Urim'; (c) the verb f*rt--C«, 'to give light,' Ezr 2*^, Neh 7*^5 ; (d) the later translators prefer the more literal renderin;^ f^rrif/^,, 'lights,' so Aq., Symm., and Theod. Ex 2S3'>: but in L>t 33s Symm. has (c) 3**»x'^> t'^6 source of Jerome's doctritiat unless the Latin Father so understood ir,>.anrn as above suggej>ted.
For D'pn we h&ve (a) iXy.Ouctt 'truth' — perhaps suggested by the fact that the presiding judge in Eg^-pt wore, suspended from his neck, an image of Tme, the E'.;yptian goddess of truth (see end of this article) — Ex., Lv., Dcut., 1 Es., as above, Sir4'jiO; {If) irivrt.t, IS 14**, t here 'innocence'; (r) TiKuet, 'perfect things,' Ezr 26a ; (d) in the later trauslat-rs (.Aq. etc.) also liter- ally-rt'.ujTTjTif, * perfections.' The renderinj;s of the Old Latin anil Jerome hesitate in the same way Ijetween doctrina, dcimtn- itratin, ostensio, also docftu, for Urim, and Veritas^ perjectio, »anetU<u, perfecius, ervdUut, tor Thummim.
In proceeding to investi<;.ate the natnre and use of the Urim and Thummim, it .seems advisable to he;;in with the data of the youngest products of Hcb. lilerature, and to proceed baclcwards to tliose of the earliest. Setting aside for the present the speculations of Philo and Josephus, to whom we Bliall return, we find no help in our investigation from the references in the (leutero-canonical writ- ings recorded above, viz. 1 Ks 5**, in which the high priest is descril)cd as ' wearing Urim and Thummim ' (so RV; AV, following Vulg., ' clothed in dmtiine and truth'), Sir 36^ 45'". The iirst item of interest is furnished by the fact recorded in Kzr 2*" = Neh 7", that certain families were ex- cluded from the enjoyment of priestly rights until the purity of their descent should be estab- lished by 'a priest with Urim and with Thummun.' From this it is manifest that the use of tliese mysterious objects, and possibly also their precise nature, were unknown to the Jewish authorities of the post-exilic age.
This brings us to the Priests' Code. Without pausing to inquire, at this stage, into the full significance attributed by the compilers of this dociiiiierit to the Urim and Thummim, we may kani at least two facts which will dwir the way for further inve.stigatiim, and prove tiie impo.ssi- bility of a widely current view as to the identity of these objects. After giving minute directions for the making of the 'breastplate of judgment' (for which see vol. i. p. 319 f.), attached to the high priest's epliod, P proceeds thus : 'And thou [Moses] shall put into the (breastplate or) pnmh of jui/r/- m-iil tlie Urim and the Thummim' (Kx •28*'). l*Io explan.'ition is given of these, nor any instructions for making them. The latter omission so impressed the Samaritans that the requisite order is supplied here, and executed .3'J", in their recension of the Pentateuch. The rendering above given of the ambiguous phrase of the original t:p, :;■: lyrrSy f.n;i is that imperatively demanded by tlie context (see the commentaries) in preference to the possible allernative adopted by the LXX, xoi iwiOr/jut irl Ti> XU71OC rJJs Kpiffeios riiv di)\<iJ(TLv Kal tt]** dX'^OeiaiVf 'thou shalt/)H< uponX the oracle of judgment the Urim and the Thummim.' This mistaken render- ing is mainly responsible for the view entertained by many writers, from Josephus to Kalisch (Hist, and Crit. Comm. in loc), tliat the Urim and Thummim are to be identified with the jewels of the breastplate, enumerated in the verses preced- ing. P's contribution to the dLscussion, therefore,
• IIos 3* LXX tor ' tcraphim.'
t The .MT has here the corrupt reading O'Sp, aee below. 1 The SamaritAD-Uebrew actually read Sy nnnji here and liiLv89.
consists in showing (1) that theUrira and Thummim were understood in priestly circles, about the close of the Exile, as something distinct both from the ejihod and from the gems with which the pouch of t!ie ephod was ornamented ; and (2) that they were conceived as vuiterial objects of comparatively small dimensions, capable of being inserted in the pouch, which indeed was constructed solely with a view to contain them. The other references of the Priestly Code (Lv 8', Nu 27-') give no further clue to the nature of Urim and Tliumiiiim. The second passage, however, shows the iiiii)ortance attached to them in the ideal theocratic com- munity of P as the authorized mediiun of Divine revelation.