[a. Heb. ūrīm, pl. intens., referred to ōr ‘light,’ pl. ōrīm, and by some taken as = lights, φωτισμοὶ ‘illuminations’ (Symmachus).]
1. Certain objects, the nature of which is not known, worn in or upon the ‘breast-plate’ of the Jewish high-priest, by means of which the will of Jehovah was held to be declared.
Used chiefly in the collocation Urim and Thummim (once Thummim and Urim), occurring five times in the O. T. In the earlier English versions rendered after the Vulgate doctrina et veritas (from the LXX δήλωσις καὶ ἀλήθεια), whence Wyclif ‘doctryne [l.v. techyng] and trewthe’: Coverdale has ‘light and perfectnesse,’ following Luther’s licht und recht, but in the ‘Great’ Bible of 1539 and in later versions the words are left untranslated.
(a) 1537. Bible (Matthew’s), Num. xxvii. 21. Eleazar ye preast … shal aske councell for him after the iudgement of Urim before the Lorde. Ibid., 1 Sam. xxviii. 6. Nether by dreame nor by Urim nor yet by prophetes.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. Babylon, 400. That never Vrim, Dream, or Vision sung Their Oracles, but all in Isaak’s tongue.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., I. v. The Priests … had the Oracle of Urim to consult with.
1659. J. Harrington, Lawgiving, II. ii. 38. When God was enquired of by Urim, he gave his Oracle by the shining of certain stones or jewels in the breastplate of the high priest.
1737. Whiston, Josephus, Antiq., III. viii. § 9, note. The very last instance of any thing like the prophetic Urim among the Jewish nation.
(b) 1537. Bible (Matthew’s), Exod. xxviii. 30. Thou shalt put in the brestlappe of iudgement vrim and Thumin.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Deut. xxxiii. 8. Let thy Thummim and thine Vrim be wt thine holy one.
1595. W. Clerke, Polimanteia, I 4. Concerning the reuelation done by Vrim and Thummim.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 198. Lord, doe it for [Aaron] the Priest, with Vrim and Thummim.
1672. Milton, P. R., III. 14. Thy Counsel would be as the Oracle Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems On Aaron’s breast.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Ess. Men & Mann., Wks. 1768, II. 229. An illiterate stupid preacher discoursing upon Urim and Thummim, and beating the pulpit cushion.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 343. In the course of the Levitical law,… answers by urim and thummim … gradually ceased.
1874. Geo. Eliot, Coll. Breakf.-P., 144. An oracular gem in price beyond Urim and Thummim lost to Israel.
1877. C. Geikie, Christ, I. 393. ‘The … prophet,’ who should bring back the lost Urim and Thummim.
b. transf. and fig.
1618. Bp. Hall, Contempl., N. T., I. i. How little were the Jews better for this, when they had lost the Urim and Thummim, sincerity of doctrine and manners!
a. 1652. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., v. 134. Whenever we look upon our own soul…, we shall find an Urim and Thummim there, by which we may ask counsel of God himself.
a. 1670. Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. (1693), 164. Conscience and Honour, the Urim and Thummim, with which the Noblest … should consult in all things.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1792), III. 19. Every mechanic professed, like Aaron, to carry a Urim and Thummim about him.
1811. Susquehanna Democrat, 8 Feb., 4/2. The legal high priests delivered up his Urim and Thummim.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II. 193. He stood and spoke … like one to whom old age is … the sign of wisdom and power—the urim and thumim of survivorship.
1851. Kingsley, Yeast, x. The heart … enshrines the priceless pearl of womanhood,… the ‘Urim and Thummim,’ before which gross man can only inquire and adore.
a. 1886. W. B. Robertson, Dream Foolish Virgin (1898), 17. And stars repeat it…, The Urim and the Thummim on the breastplate of the night.
2. Mormon Ch. (See quots.)
1843. H. Caswall, Proph. of 19th Cent., v. 77. The mystic Urim and Thummim, which appeared in the form of two transparent stones, set in the rim of a bow, like a pair of spectacles, and fastened to a golden breastplate.
1864. Chambers’s Encycl., VI. 569/2. Along with the records was found a curious instrument, called by Smith ‘Urim and Thummin.’… By means of these stone spectacles [etc.].
