God’s Word for You
Numbers 27:18-23 Urim and Thummim
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, December 30, 2021
18 The LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and place your hand on him. 19 Have him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the entire community. You will commission him in their sight. 20 You will give some of your authority to him so that the entire Israelite community will listen to him. 21 He will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will inquire for him before the LORD with the decision of the Urim. He and all the Israelites with him, the entire community, will go out at his command and come in at his command.”
Joshua died in about 1375, or some 31 years after this commissioning. At the time of his death, he was one hundred ten (Joshua 24:29), therefore he would have been about 79 now, and about 39 when he and the other spies first entered Canaan. (A famous film adaptation of the Exodus makes Joshua out to be about thirty years older than this, but there are many errors in Hollywood’s versions of Bible stories).
There was going to be a difference between Moses and Joshua. Moses spoke with the Lord face to face, but Joshua would go to the high priest, who would ask questions of the Lord for him using the “the decisions of the Urim (and Thummim).” He would be in command of the Army of Israel, and would be the authority for settling disputes as Moses was, but now that they were entering into Canaan, the power would pass from one centralized place (Moses) to two: the military leadership (Joshua is never called a king) and the religious leadership, which was the priesthood. This division would only be undone with the coming of Christ, who is, all in one, prophet, priest, and king.
It’s time to visit the subject of the Urim and Thummim. They were the means of obtaining answers to questions asked of God at the time before the Holy Scriptures were completed. When Josephus wrote his history (around 80 AD) he said that as of that date the Urim and Thummim had ceased about two hundred years before (Antiquities III,8,9). That would be about 100 or 120 BC as the last known date for the use of the Urim and Thummim. That was the period following the Maccabean revolution. The last of the Maccabee brothers, Simon, was murdered in 135 BC by his son-in-law Ptolemy; Simon’s son John Hyrcanus became high priest of Israel from 135-104 BC.
Urim means “light, illumination, or revelation.” Thummim means “perfection,” although not really “truth” as the Greek Septuagint translated it. (In Egypt, where the Septuagint was translated, the high priests of Egypt wore special stones on chains called “Truth” or aletheia). There are two main theories about what the Urim and Thummim were, and since they are not described physically in the Bible it is impossible now to say for certain.
Theory I: Josephus and others thought that the Urim and Thummim were simply the front and back of the high priest’s special breastplate, or, more properly, the twelve stones of the tribes set into it. This theory might be supported by the plural nature of the words Urim (Ur’s) and Thummim (Thum’s). This theory was especially popular in the 18th and 18th centuries among Jewish, German and Swiss scholars.
Theory II: All ancient and almost all modern scholars and theologians think that the Urim and Thummim were objects, probably stones, placed into a pocket or pouch behind the high priest’s breastplate. This theory has the merit of fitting the literal meaning of “Put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the Lord” (Exodus 28:30). Also, in Leviticus 8:8, Aaron does not merely put the breastplate on, but he “put the Urim and Thummim in the breastplate.” As to how they worked, we don’t really know. I don’t have a conjecture of my own, but these have been offered by others:
1, The high priest pulled one of the two stones from the pocket behind the breastplate, and this was either “Yes” (Urim?) or “No” (Thummim?).
2, The stones shone very brightly so that people could see from far away.
3, The stones gave the priest authority to make a judgment without any glow or supernatural event (but this is contradicted by 1 Samuel 28:6).
4, The stones were like lots to be cast (dice to be thrown), and their position or meaning was interpreted by the high priest.
Today the Lord communicates his full will to us through his word, the Holy Bible, and so the need for the Urim and Thummim is replaced by the full revelation of God.
22 Moses did just as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the entire community. 23 He placed his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the LORD spoke through Moses.
Joshua’s commissioning was similar to that of Aaron and the other priests, but mainly involved the laying on of hands, and words spoken by Eleazar the high priest. Those words are not recorded, but surely they included an application of verses 20-21 above. They may have been something like this:
“Listen, O Israel. The Lord your God has chosen Joshua son of Nun to lead the people after Moses. The entire Israelite community must listen to him. He will stand before the Lord’s priest, who will inquire for him before the LORD with the decision of the Urim. He and all the Israelites with him, the entire community, will go out at his command and come in at his command.”
When a women gets married, the leadership in her life changes. When she is a widow and remarries, she will find that her second husband is a different man than her first. He might be a better or worse singer, a little more or less thoughtful or sentimental, and he might be more forgetful. The same is true when a church calls a new pastor. He will be different, but they will love him all the same. Joshua was different than Moses, but he was the Lord’s choice, and that fact alone meant that they could trust him and follow him without reservation. Churches that call their pastors (rather than hiring them) have the same confidence. Remember: Your pastor “is God’s servant to do you good” (Romans 13:4). And he must remember: “He must be able to teach. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24, 2:25-26). When we have unity based on faith in Jesus, unity of doctrine and of all we believe, then “everything that has breath will praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.