The lost meaning of ‘urim and thummim’: mysterious oracle of the Old Testament

From ancient astronauts to priestly divinatory practices and the Holy Grail — many theories try to explain the origin of these puzzling relics of the Israelites

Nobody knows exactly what the Ancient Hebrew urim and thummim were — the Bible does not tell us — or how they were used, or even if they were one or more objects.

Throughout history, there have been many theories about these mysterious, apparently material, items connected with the breastplate, or ephod, worn exclusively by Israelite high priests. They seem to have been stones, or a stone, used as a kind of divine oracle associated with divination and, perhaps in particular, cleromancy, the casting of lots; most scholars believe the urim and thummim (UT henceforth, excluding quotations) to have been objects associated with such divination, to the effect that academic discussion about them has largely ceased.

However, speculation in the wider sphere, both fascinating and fanciful, about these puzzling relics of ancient Israelite religious life, these fabulous ‘seer stones’, has continued. It includes their provenance in Ancient Egypt, and that they were the origin of the Holy Grail legends; they have been linked with ‘ancient astronauts’ and theories of advanced technologies existing in the far distant past; their lore has been espoused by the Mormon Church whose founder and prophet Joseph Smith is said to have consulted them; and there have even been people in recent…