The Urim and Thummin: Insights from Non-LDS Scholar, Dr. Cornelis Van Dam
by Jeff Lindsay
Dr.
Cornelis Van Dam of the
Theological
College of the Canadian Reformed Churches
has written a fascinating book on a generally neglected topic of
biblical scholarship: the Urim and Thummim. His book, The
Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel
(Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns,
1997) was the first major work on this topic in many years and
represents a major advance in scholarship. I was able to purchase
this handsome hardbound book of nearly 300 pages from a sale at
Eisenbrauns a while ago. The book can be partially
previewed on Google Books.
Several
LDS folks have already reviewed or mentioned Van Dam's brilliant
tome. The most detail is in Kerry
Shirts' review. A few parts of
Van Dam's work are discussed in "Teraphim
and the Urim and Thummim" by Matthew Roper
at the Maxwell Institute. I'll share a couple of highlights I've
picked up so far.
Van
Dam begins by noting that scholarship on the Urim and Thummim had
become rather silent since a sort of consensus had been reached that
the Urim and Thummim probably consisted simply of lots
like two or more sticks that could be randomly selected to reveal a
yes/no answer. This is the primary view advocated in the Wikipedia
entry on Urim and Thummim.
Surprisingly, Van Dam is not even cited on Wikipedia (as viewed Feb.
15, 2013).
Van
Dam humbly observes that there is yet more to add to the discussions
of the past, and then offers a mountain of new insights about this
mysterious device used by ancient priests in Israel. He begins with a
survey of past commentary and scholarship, which tends to argue that
the device was primarily allegorical or symbolic, not a means of
revelation. From medieval days on, "the preponderance of
allegorical exposition meant that there was often very little
attention given to the exact (physical) identity of the UT" (p.
12). Though allegorical interpretations of scripture generally fell
out of favor with the Reformation, the Urim and Thummim continued to
be viewed largely as symbolic. "Between the seventeenth and the
twentieth centuries, a significant number of scholars continued to
regard the UT, not as a specific means of revelation, but as a
symbol. Usually the UT were considered symbolic of the presence of
God and/or the illumination and veracity of the revelation (which was
considered to have been given through inspiration to the high
priest)" (p. 14).
Some
sources, though, treated the Urim and Thummim as real physical
objects. A very old tradition equated it with stones on the
breastplate or ephod of ancient Israelite priests. Van Dam observes,
however, that an "obvious advantage of considering the UT to be
one or two gems that were distinguished from the breastpiece is that
justice is done to the differentiation made between the two in Exod
28:30 and Lev 8:8" (p. 29).
Van
Dam cites documents from the Dead Sea Scrolls which link the Urim and
Thummim to stones that give light. One document, 4Q375, has text with
the following translation:
for the Urim
[... the stone when ...]
they shall give light to the and he/it (i.e., 'the priest' or 'the
cloud') shall go forth together with it(?) with flashes of fire,
then the left hand stone which is on the his left hand
side shall shine forth to the eyes of all the assembly until the priest
finishes speaking....
Van
Dam states that this is a reference to "the flashing of the two
engraved stones on the shoulderpieces of the ephod of the high
priest" (p. 17). Some writers between the 17th and 19th
centuries held that the Urim and Thummim were the twelve gems on the
breastplate of the priest, and that prophetic inspiration was the
mode of revelation.
Van
Dam ably argues against the lot theory, advocating instead that the
Urim and Thummim was associated with prophecy and revelation more
generally, not merely using lots to get yes/no answers or to choose
between two or more possibilities. If he is correct, "then we
are bringing together two elements that generally have been carefully
separated in biblical scholarship, namely, priesthood and prophecy.
This separation, begun in the early nineteenth century, has been
characteristic of the last hundred years or so, precisely when the
lot theory was in vogue" (p.
231).
Van
Dam discusses traditions in the Babylonian Talmud in which revelation
was received through the Urim and Thummim (here identified with the
gems of the high-priestly breastpiece) via letters engraved on the
stones. "One tradition thought the letters that formed the reply
stood out while the priest presumably made up the right combination,
whereas the other argued that the letters combined for form the words
of the response" (p. 20).
The
concept of the Urim and Thummim providing revelation associated with
visible light and particular with written text is one of much
interest to Latter-day Saints. This concept is linked to the ancient
tradition that the Urim and Thummim were engraved with the divine
Name. The earliest reference to this, according to Van Dam (p. 23),
is Targum Pseudo Jonathan
on Exodus 28:30:
And
you shall put into the breastplate the Urim, which illuminate their
words and make manifest the hidden things of the House of Israel, and
the Tumim [sic] which perfect their deeds, for the High Priest who
seeks instruction from the Lord through them. Because in them is
engraved and exposed the great and holy Name by which the three
hundred and ten worlds were created....
Bede
also speculated that the Urim and Thummim may have been "simply
placed with a secret name" on the breastpiece. Rabbi Moshe ben
Nahman (1194-ca. 1270) said that the Urim and Thummim had an
inscription of the holy names of God and were given by God to Moses.
Van Dam explains the operation, according to ben Nahman (p. 24):
[W]hen
the priest fixed his thoughts on the divine names in the Urim, some
letters engraved upon the stones of the breastpiece would light up
before the eyes of the priest who inquired of their judgment. Not yet
knowing the correct arrangement of the letters to form the response,
the priest would fix his thought on the divine names in the Thummim,
and his heart was made perfect so that he could understand the
meaning of the letters that had lit up.
This
sounds somewhat similar to Doctrine and Covenants Section 9, where we
learn that the divine gift of translating the Book of Mormon required
more than simply looking into the Urim and Thummim, but serious
mental effort to understand, receiving revelation through heart and
mind. And of course, this process required the mortal to be pure and
close to God.
Van
Dam makes particular note of the associations of the Urim and Thummim
with light (e.g., pp. 132-139), noting that the words may well mean
something like "light and perfection" or even "perfect
light" (p. 224). Various ancient sources refer to light
emanating from the Urim and Thummim as playing a key role in the
revelatory process. Van Dam finds evidence suggesting the theory
(admittedly speculative, according to Van Dam) that the Urim and
Thummim might have been a gemstone (pp. 224-226), perhaps just a
single object, though it may have been more than one object.
Recognizing
the strong associations between the Urim and Thummim and revelatory
light and truth, Van Dam suggests that some biblical passages that
mention light and truth may implicitly be references to the Urim and
Thummim (pp. 225-226).
He
also points out that the rise of rationalism since the 17th century
led to the falling out of favor of the theory that supernatural light
was involved in its use.
Van
Dam's exposition will be of interest to students of LDS religion, for
Joseph Smith's references to the Urim and Thummim are strongly
supported by scholarship on the ancient understanding of these tools.
Joseph Smith taught that these were divine tools which provided light
that allowed one to see things as part of the revelatory experience.
The Urim and Thummim could help him translate text, receive
revelations and answers to questions. It involved a stone or stones
which could provide revelatory light. And references in the LDS
scriptures to seer stones, Gazelem, the glowing stones in Ether 3,
and the Urim and Thummim that the saints will receive in the
Celestial Kingdom all appear to fit surprisingly well in the context
of modern scholarship about ancient biblical views on the mysterious
Urim and Thummim.
Not
bad for young Joseph Smith if he were making all this up at a time
when it would have been safer to not mention the Urim and Thummim at
all or treat them as allegorical. But, yes, he could have
theoretically obtained information from several sources suggesting
that they were stones or jewels. One source is Josephus. There was
also a sermon given in New York in 1800 by John Stafford on the Urim
and Thummim teaching that they were two jewels (you can read this at
Google
Books: "The Urim and Thummim," delivered before Hiram
Lodge, No. 72, Dec. 27, 1800, New York: E. Conrad, 1820.
There
is much more to say on this topic, but that will suffice for now. I
hope you'll read the book yourself.
Jeff Lindsay has been defending the Church on the Internet since 1994, when he launched his
LDSFAQ website under JeffLindsay.com. He has also long been blogging about LDS matters on
the blog Mormanity (mormanity.blogspot.com). Jeff is a longtime resident of Appleton,
Wisconsin, who recently moved to Shanghai, China, with his wife, Kendra.
He works for an Asian corporation as head of intellectual property. Jeff and Kendra are the parents of 4 boys, 3 married and the the youngest on a mission.
He is a former innovation and IP consultant, a former professor, and former Corporate Patent
Strategist and Senior Research Fellow for a multinational corporation.
Jeff Lindsay, Cheryl Perkins and Mukund Karanjikar are authors of the book Conquering
Innovation Fatigue (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).
Jeff has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University and is a registered US
patent agent. He has more than 100 granted US patents and is author of numerous publications.
Jeff's hobbies include photography, amateur magic, writing, and Mandarin Chinese.