Urim and Thummim: What Were They?
The Urim and Thummim were objects used in ancient Israel for discerning God's will, placed in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:30, Leviticus 8:8). The exact nature of these objects is unknown — the Bible does not describe what they looked like or how they worked mechanically. The Hebrew words Urim and Thummim are often translated as "lights and perfections" or "revelation and truth." They appear most frequently in the context of seeking yes or no decisions from God before military campaigns or judicial decisions. After the early monarchy period, references to the Urim and Thummim effectively disappear from Scripture.
They appear in the instructions for building the priestly garments. They are placed in the high priest's breastplate. Kings and commanders sought answers through them before battles. Then, somewhere around the time of Solomon or the later monarchy, the references stop — and they are never mentioned again in the New Testament.
The Urim and Thummim are one of the more genuinely mysterious elements of the Old Testament — not because the Bible is being cagey, but because what they were and how they worked was apparently so well understood by the original readers that explaining it seemed unnecessary. Two thousand years later, we're left with references to objects whose mechanics we can only reconstruct from the patterns of how they were used.
What the Bible Says About Them
The first mention is in the instructions for the high priest's breastplate: "And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord." (Exodus 28:30, NKJV). The breastplate was a square garment worn on the priest's chest, containing twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The Urim and Thummim were placed inside it — or in a pocket within it — for use in discerning God's will.
The Hebrew words are themselves informative. Urim (אוּרִים) may derive from or (light) or from arar (curse). Thummim (תֻּמִּים) connects to tom (completeness, perfection, integrity). The most common translations are "lights and perfections" or "revelation and truth" — though none of these is universally agreed upon. Some scholars suggest they may have been lots of some kind — objects drawn out or cast to produce a yes/no answer. The Septuagint sometimes translates the phrase as "revelation and truth," which influenced the Latin Vulgate's rendering.
The clearest functional description comes from Numbers 27:21 (NKJV), where God instructs that Joshua shall stand before Eleazar the priest, "who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim." The Urim is used here as an oracle — a mechanism for receiving divine guidance on decisions of national importance. Military campaigns and leadership decisions were among the most common contexts.
How They Seemed to Work
From the pattern of biblical references, the Urim and Thummim appear to have functioned as a binary divination system — producing yes/no answers to specific questions. 1 Samuel 14:41 (NKJV) is one of the clearest examples: Saul prays, "O Lord God of Israel, why have You not answered Your servant today? If the fault is in me or in Jonathan my son, O Lord God of Israel, give Urim. But if the fault is in Your people Israel, give Thummim." This suggests two distinct possible outputs — one corresponding to each object — which pointed to one answer or another.
1 Samuel 28:6 (NKJV) records that when Saul inquired of the Lord about the Philistine threat, "the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets." This tells us that the Urim and Thummim could give no answer — God was not obliged to respond through them. They were not a mechanical slot machine for divine answers. They functioned within the framework of God's willingness to communicate.
The most widely held scholarly view is that the Urim and Thummim were physical objects — possibly two stones of different appearance or colour — drawn from a pouch or cast as lots, with God superintending which was drawn in a manner similar to how Proverbs 16:33 (NKJV) describes casting lots: "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord." The mystery is genuine — no ancient source clearly describes the physical objects, and the Bible treats them as understood.
When They Disappeared
References to the Urim and Thummim effectively cease during or after David's reign. By the time of Ezra and Nehemiah — writing about the return from Babylonian exile in the 5th century BC — the Urim and Thummim are mentioned as something that should exist but doesn't: the priests who couldn't prove their genealogy "were excluded from the priesthood as unclean" until "a priest could consult with the Urim and Thummim" (Ezra 2:63, NKJV). The implication is that no priest currently had them, and their presence was needed for a definitive ruling.
Why they disappeared is not explained in Scripture. Possible explanations include: loss during the destruction of the First Temple by Babylon in 586 BC, their function being replaced by the prophetic ministry that expanded significantly from Samuel onward, or simply God choosing not to restore them after exile. The New Covenant brings a different mode of divine guidance — the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 16:13) who guides believers into truth without the need for physical lots or oracular objects.
What They Tell Us About God
Whatever the Urim and Thummim were physically, they represent something theologically important: God was willing to communicate with His people about real, practical decisions — battles, leadership appointments, judicial questions. He did not leave Israel to guess or figure things out entirely on their own. The mode of communication was formal and mediated through the priesthood, but the availability of divine guidance was genuine.
The New Covenant replaces that formal mediation with something more direct. John 16:13 (NKJV): "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth." The follower of Jesus has access to guidance that is more personal, more continuous, and more inward than any physical oracle — the Spirit who dwells within and teaches, corrects, and directs. The Urim and Thummim pointed toward something; the Spirit is that thing, arrived.
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Author
Shafraz Jeal
Shafraz Jeal is the founder of By Design Ministry, created to help people discover Jesus, understand the Bible, and grow in faith. After encountering Christ in 2016, his life was radically changed, and that journey continues to shape everything he shares.
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