What were the “Urim and Thummim” (KJV)?

Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars

Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected

| PentecostalTheology.com

               

The first mention of these two objects occurs in Exo. 28:30, in which it is written,

30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually. KJV, 1769

ל וְנָתַתָּ אֶל חֹשֶׁן הַמִּשְׁפָּט אֶת הָאוּרִים וְאֶת הַתֻּמִּים וְהָיוּ עַל לֵב אַהֲרֹן בְּבֹאוֹ לִפְנֵי יַהְוֶה וְנָשָׂא אַהֲרֹן אֶת מִשְׁפַּט בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל לִבּוֹ לִפְנֵי יַהְוֶה תָּמִיד

  1. In English, how would one describe the objects referred to in Hebrew as הָאוּרִים and הַתֻּמִּים? What were they composed of? How were they made, and who made them?
  2. How did Jerome manage the words הָאוּרִים and הַתֻּמִּים in Latin in the Vulgate? Did he translate or transliterate?
  3. How did the 70/72 manage those words in Greek in the Septuagint? Did they translate or transliterate?
  4. Is there an idea of what the Hebrew words actually mean (since the KJV chose to transliterate rather than translate them)?

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.