Urim And Thummim
Wayne Stokes
Urim and Thummim - Lights and perfection
Exodus 28:30
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.
Leviticus 8:8
And he put the breastplate upon him; also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim.
Numbers 27:21
And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.
Deuteronomy 33:8
And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Ezra 2:63
And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim. (also Nehemiah 7:65)
In: The New Compact Bible Dictionary, under Urim and Thummim it says: (lights and perfection), objects not specifically described, perhaps stones, placed in the breastplate of the high priest: by which he ascertained the will of God in any important matter affecting the nation. One theory is that they were used as the lot and cast like dice, the manner of their fall somehow revealing the Lord's will. Another theory is that they served as a symbol of the high priest's authority to seek counsel of Jehovah, God's will being revealed to him through inner illumination.
The last example is the one that I seem to run across the most frequent in my study. Urim being translated as 'lights' would seem to bear that out. Also the fact that the high priest would remove the stones and hold them in his hands to look upon them and/or to cast them as lost. He surely would not remove them from their settings in the breastplate and remount them every time they were used.
There is a TV commercial on now that has an actor dressed as the high priest, telling how the Urim and Thummim (lights and the perfection) are two of the stones in the breastplate worn by the high priest. In Leviticus 8:8 it clearly says that he put the breastplate on and he also put in the breastplate, the Urim and Thummim. Most sources I have found describe the Urim and the Thummim as two stones carried in a small pouch in the back of the breastplate "and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord:" (Exodus 28:30). Seeing this error got me thinking about this all over again. Years ago I wrote a lesson on this topic and I thought it a good time to reintroduce this lesson for many new people that I e-mail with. I am not writing this to focus on this error in this commercial but to relay info to those who may not know anything about the Urim and the Thummim and the picture that it opens up to us.
I believe that this is God's design as a type or picture of Christ. Christ Jesus is a believer's "light and perfection." As believers we are a royal priesthood before God. The Word clearly tells us that we are to wear the breastplate of the whole armor of God. This breastplate covers our chest or heart. The Urim and the Thummim, the lights and perfection are behind that breastplate over our heart (in a small pouch). We have Jesus, our 'light and perfection' in the 'pouch' of our heart (where we seek counsel with God). The Word of God calls it the breastplate of judgment (Exodus 28:30). Light is judgment. Light shines and shows judgment... innocence or guilt. Ephesians says that the breastplate we wear is righteousness. Righteousness is perfection. Light and perfection or judgment and righteousness... these are both a type or picture of Jesus.
Love and prayers in Christ! Have a blessed weekend!
Wayne
Everlasting Light Ministries Is. 60:19,20
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