The Urim and the Thummim - Exodus 28:30

Something just doesn’t sit right with me about the Urim and the Thummim (pronounced Tumim) first mentioned in Exodus 28. Most of the stories in the Old Testament involve God intervening directly and interacting with men. I like that. It shows that God is a personal God who is involved in the details of our lives. We see God as the powerful conqueror for His people. We see Him as the counselor, as the law giver, as the judge, and many other roles. In all of these roles however, God is directly interacting with His people.

So now we come to Exodus 28. Moses has come down off the mountain. He has presented the people with the 10 commandments. The people saw him go up on the mountain which was covered in clouds with lightning flashing all around. Moses was given instructions for the building of the ark of the testimony, and the tabernacle where God would dwell with His people, and now in Exodus 28 God gives Moses instructions for the clothing for His high priest.

God gave Moses very specific instructions for the pieces of the outfit for the High priest. Part of the outfit was the Urim and the Thummim (UT)

Exodus 28:30 Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD.

There is no description of the UT in the bible. There is no description of how it was used. There is no description of how it worked. But we do know that God intended these two stones to be used like lots to discern His will in a given circumstance and there are however a number of accounts of its use and the types of decisions that it was used to make. The following are all of the accounts of the use of the UT in the bible.

Judges 1:1-2 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?" The LORD answered, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands."

Judges 20:18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?" The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first."

1Sa 10:22 So they inquired further of the LORD, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage."

1Sa 23:2 he inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" The LORD answered him, "Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah."

1Sa 23:4 Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, "Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand."

1Sa 23:10-11 David said, "O LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant." And the LORD said, "He will."

1Sa 23:12 Again David asked, "Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will."

2Sa 2:1 In the course of time, David inquired of the LORD. "Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?" he asked. The LORD said, "Go up." David asked, "Where shall I go?" "To Hebron," the LORD answered.

2Sa 5:19 so David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD answered him, "Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you."

2Sa 5:23 so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.

It’s interesting to note here that there is no mention of the use of the UT after the time of David.

So anyway this all bugged me. I really wanted God to be there at the beck and call of his people the way the bible seems to describe. Or does it…I’ve been trying to read the bible like it’s the first time I’ve read it and I’ve also been trying to read it without all of the notions that have been provided to me by previous teachers. Not that it’s bad to learn from others but I’m trying to read the bible like it is the only source of truth. (I got this idea from Frances Chan in his book Forgotten God. He questions if we would arrive at the same conclusions about God if the bible were our only source of truth.)

So with that said, as I think about the bible up to this point in Exodus we are given a condensed view of more than 2000 year of history. We are given many accounts of God interacting with only a very few people. Because of these accounts, we are impressed with God’s interaction with men and long for that kind of relationship with Him. But the fact is, most people on the earth never had any interaction with God. They were not given the benefit of His council, or His immediate presence. Even the children of Israel had a distant relationship with God. They knew he was fighting for them, he was present in clouds and fire but not in a personal way, in fact it was quite the opposite. Their relationship with God was one of blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience but both were in an indirect and impersonal way.

So why would the God of the universe chose to interact with people in such an impersonal way as the UT. I don’t pretend to know God’s reasons for doing things the way He chose to do them but I think the answer may lie in the progression of revelation throughout history.

In the Garden, God walked and talked with men. After the fall, He no longer interacted with men in that way again. He chose certain men and women for interaction to accomplish His purposes. Then we have the Urim and Thummim, where God interacts by the use of lots. After David, God worked through the prophets and there was no more mention of the UT. Then there was a period of complete silence where God was largely absent in the lives of men. Then Jesus came and God walked with men again for a short time. After the death resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Spirit of God was given to men. For me the answer came in the realization of the fact that I tend to forget the Spirit’s presence in my life. I go through periods of time where I try to keep Him constantly in the forefront of my attention but inevitably I forget. But I neglect to recognize the blessing that is mine in the fact that He is always there to guide me in my decisions. My wife and I often talk about what it would be like to go through life without the Spirit’s guidance, without His leading, without His help in decision making. But the early Israelites didn’t have the Spirit; they did not have His leading. They had direct revelation to certain men, they had God’s physical intervention in their lives at times, but they did not have the Spirit to guide them individually. In the absence of the Spirit’s presence they would have no way to discern the proper means to proceed in any given situation.

So what do I take away from the use of the UT in Exodus. Well, I guess I thank God that I have the presence of the Spirit in my life to guide me in making decisions. I also take away the realization that God truly does intend for His children to seek Him for guidance when making life’s decisions. This realization makes me want to more fervently seek Him for answers to life’s questions. He wants to answer them.