4. Uriel is also named in the Apocrypha (2 Esdr. iv, 1,3(); V, "20; X, 28) as an ani:;el or archangel; and in the book of Enoch he is described as "the angel of thunder and lightning" (ch. xx), and as being '• placed over all the lights of iieaven" (Ixxv, 3).
Urii, in Slavonic mythology, was a deity among the Wends, worshipped mainly by magicians as their pro- tector.
Uri'jah (</. 2 Kings xvi. 10. 11. ]'>. 10 ; b. Jer. xxvi. 20, 21. 23 ; c. Neh. iii,'4, 21). See Uriah.
Urim AND TiiL'.MMiM (Heb. Urim ve-Thummim, D'Sri n"^"i1X), the Anglicized form of two Hebrew words used (always together [except in Numb, xxvii, 21 ; 1 Sam. xxviii, 6, where the former occurs alone ; in Deut. xxxiii, 8, they are in the reverse order] and with the article [except in Ezra ii, G3; Neli. vii. Go]) with reference to some obscure mode ol' divination in con- nection with the sacerdotal regalia (Exod. xxviii, 30; Lev. viii, 8), but concerning which both ancient and modern interpreters have greatly differed. (In the fol- lowing discussion of the subject we use in part the state- ments found in Kitto and Smith s. v.)
\. Ktymolof/ical Import. — These words are Hebrew plurals, not proper names, but appellatives of frequent occurrence in the singular. They are generalh' consid- ered to be plurules excdlvnlici', denoting by a metonymy the things or modes whereby the revelation was given and truth declared.
1. In Urim, Hebrew scholars, with hardly an excep- tion, have seen the plural of "i^X {Ur, light <yc fire). The Sept., however, appears to have had reasons which led its authors to another rendering than that of 0w(; or its cognates. They give r/ dr'iXiixnc (Exod. xxviii, 30; Ecchis. xlv, 10), and O/yXoi (Numb, xxvii, 21 ; Deut. xxxiii, 8; 1 Sam. xxviii, 6); while in Ezra ii, 63, and Neh. vii, C5, we have respectively plural and singular participles of ^wn'^ai. In Aquila and Theodotion we find the more literal (pwrirrfioi. The Vulg., following the lead of the Sept., but going further astray, gives doctrina in Exod. xxviii, 30 and Deut. xxxiii, 8; omits the word in Numb, xxvii, 21, paraphrases it by per sacerdotes in 1 Sam. xxviii, 6, and gives judicium in Ecclus. xlv, 10, as the rendering of S>]\wait;. Luther gives Licht. The literal English equivalent would of course be "lights;" but the renderings in the Sept. and Vidg. indicate, at least, a traditional belief 'among the .Jews thai the plural form, as in Eloliim and other like words, did not involve numerical plurality. Bellarmine, wishing to defend the Vulg. translation, suggested the derivation of Urim from riT', " to teach" (Buxtorf, Diss. deUr.etTL).
2. Thuinmim. Here also there is almost a consensus as to the derivation from DD (Tom, perfection, com- pleteness) ; but the Sept., as before, uses the closer Greek ecjuivalent -iXtioQ once (Ezra ii. G3), and adheres else- where to aXiiBna ; and the Vulg., giving perj'ectns there, in like maimer gives verilus in all other pas- sages. Aquila more accurately chooses rfXfioJiTfic. Lu- ther, in his first edition, gave Vvlliykeit, but afterwards rested in Recht.
What has been said as to the plural of Urim applies here also. Bellarmine [lit sup.) derives Tliummim from ■j^X, to be true. By others it has been derived from QNP, contr. Dn'="a twin," on the theory that the two groups of gems, six on each side the breastplate, were what constituted the Urim and Thummim (R. Azarias, in Buxtorf, loc. cit.). " Light and perfection" would probably be the best English equivalents. The as-
sumption of a hendiadys, so that the two words = " per- fect illumination" (Carpzov, A pp. Crit. i, 5; Biihr, Sym- boUk, ii, 135), is unnecessary, and, it is believed, unsound. The mere i)hrase, as such, leaves it therefore imcertain whether each word by itself denoted many things of a given kind, or whether tiie two taken together might be referred to two distinct objects, or to one and the same object. The presence of the article rt, and yet more of the demonstrative rx before each, is rather in favor of distinctness. Thummim never occurs by itself, unless with Ziillig we find it in Psa. xvi, 5.
II. iScriplund fStatements.—l. The mysterious words meet us for the first time, as if they needed no expla- nation, in the description of the high-priest's apparel. Over the ephod tiiere is to be a "breastplate of judg- ment" (i:Q':3'ail yrn, Sept. Xoytioi' KpicTeujc,Yu\g. ra- tionale judicii), of gold, scarlet, purple, and fine linen, folded square and doubled, a "span" in length and width. In it are to be set four rows of precious stones, each stone with the name of a tribe of Israel engraved on it, that Aaron may " i)ear them upon his heart." See Ephod. Then comes a further order. Inside the breast- plate, as the tables of the covenant were placed inside the ark (the preposition ?X is used in both cases, Exod. XXV, IG ; xxviii, 30), are to be placed " the Urim and the Thummim," the light and the perfection; and they, too, are to be on Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord (ver. 15-30). Not a word describes them. They are mentioned as things already familiar both to l\loses and the people, connected naturally with the func- tions of the high-priest, as mediating between Jehovah and his people. The command is fulfilled (Lev. viii, 8). They pass from Aaron to Eleazar with the sacred ephod and other pontificalia (Numb, xx, 28). When Joshua is solemnly appointed to succeed the great hero- lawgiver, he is bidden to stand before Eleazar, the priest, "who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of [the] Urim," and this counsel is to determine the movements of the host of Israel (xxvii, 21). In the blessings of Moses, they appear as the crowning glory of the tribe of Levi (" thy Thummim and thy Urim are with thy Holy One"), the reward of the zeal which led them to close their eyes to everything but " the law and the covenant" (Deut. x.xxiii, 8.9). Once, and once only, are they mentioned by name in the history of the Judges and the monarchy. Saul, left to his self-chosen dark- ness, is answered "neither by dreams, nor by [the] Urim, nor by prophet" (1 Sam. xxviii, G). There is no longer a priest with Urim and Thummim (Sept. Tolg ^wri- sooiTt Kai Tolg reXdoic, Ezra ii, G3 ; o (pwTinwv, Neh. vii, G5) to answer hard questions. When will one ap- pear again? The son of Sirach copies the (Jreek names (SfiXoi, aXij^eia} in his description of Aaron's garments, but throws no light upon their meaning or their use (Ecclus. xlv, 10).