The Hebrew Bible strongly condemns many of the divinatory practices of neighbouring peoples. Yet it knows and approves one form of oracular consultation reserved to the high priest: the Urim and Thummim. We know little for certain about these mysterious objects, but the texts that mention them allow us to reconstruct how, in ancient Israel, a question was put to God through the sacred lot.
Where they were kept
The Book of Exodus (chapter 28) describes the garments of the high priest Aaron. Among them is the breastpiece of judgement (ḥōšen hammišpāṭ), a square of precious fabric attached to the ephod, a kind of priestly garment or apron. Twelve stones were set in the breastpiece, one for each tribe of Israel.
The text adds that the Urim and Thummim were to be placed in the breastpiece, so that they would be «on Aaron's heart» when he went in before the Lord. Leviticus (chapter 8) also recalls that Moses put them in the breastpiece during Aaron's consecration. Nowhere are we told what they were made of or what shape they had.
What the names mean
The two Hebrew terms are hard to interpret:
| Term | Proposed interpretations |
|---|---|
| ʾûrîm | «lights», or linked to the root for «to curse» |
| tummîm | «perfections», «integrity», «innocence» |
A frequent reading links the initials of the two words to the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alef and tav, as if the Urim and Thummim represented the totality of answers. It is an evocative hypothesis, but not a proven one.
How the oracle worked
The narrative texts suggest that the oracle answered mainly alternative questions, of the yes-or-no or this-or-that kind. The clearest case is in First Samuel (chapter 14), in the longer version preserved by the Greek translation. Saul seeks the culprit of a transgression and prays: if the guilt is in me or in my son Jonathan, give Urim; if it is in the people of Israel, give Thummim. The lot falls on Saul and Jonathan, then, with a second drawing, on Jonathan.
Other passages show the oracle at work in situations of war:
- David asks the priest Abiathar to bring the ephod and inquires whether the people of Keilah will hand him over to Saul (1 Samuel 23).
- Later, again with the ephod, he asks whether he should pursue the raiders who have plundered Ziklag (1 Samuel 30).
- In the Book of Numbers (chapter 27), Joshua is to stand before the priest Eleazar, who will inquire for him by the judgement of the Urim before the Lord.
It was also possible for the oracle to give no answer: in the Endor story, Saul receives no reply from dreams, from the Urim or from the prophets.
The sacred lot in Israel
The Urim and Thummim belong to a wider family of practices based on the lot (gôrāl), which the Bible regards as legitimate when guided by God:
- the division of the land among the tribes, assigned by lot in the Book of Joshua;
- the two goats of the Day of Atonement, one for the Lord and one for Azazel, chosen by lot (Leviticus 16);
- the designation of culprits or appointees in various stories.
The Book of Proverbs sums up the idea in a famous saying: the lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord.
The disappearance of the oracle
After the age of David the Urim and Thummim almost vanish from the narratives. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, on the return from the Babylonian exile, we read that certain priestly families lacking genealogical records may not eat the most holy things until a priest arises with Urim and Thummim. It is a sign that the oracle was no longer available at that time, and that its restoration was awaited as a future event.
The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, in the first century CE, instead connected the oracle with the brilliance of the stones on the priestly garments and stated that this wonder had ceased long before his own time.
A symbolic reading
The Urim and Thummim, placed «on the heart» of the priest, are a powerful image: a question addressed to the divine arises from the centre of the person, not from mere curiosity. From the perspective of the Hermetic Workshop they remind us that the authentic oracle does not exist to satisfy every doubt but to illuminate decisive choices, and that sometimes silence is also an answer.
In short
- The Urim and Thummim were placed in the high priest's breastpiece of judgement.
- Their material, shape and the precise meaning of their names remain uncertain.
- The oracle answered mainly alternative questions, as 1 Samuel 14 shows.
- It belonged to a wider system of sacred lots regarded as legitimate in Israel.
- After the exile the oracle was no longer available and its return was awaited.
