Ŭ'rim, n.

n. [Heb. ŭrim, pl. of ŭr, flame, fire, ōr, light, and thummim, pl. of thôm, perfection, innocence.] A part of the breastplate of the high-priest among the ancient Jews, in connection with which Jehovah revealed his will on certain occasions. Its nature is not distinctly understood.

Thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the *Thummim. Ex. xxviii. 30.

And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 1 Sam. xxviii. 6.

There are two principal opinions respecting the urim and thummim. One is, that these words denote the four rows of precious stones in the breastplate of the high-priest, and are so called from their brilliancy and perfection; which stones, in an appeal to God in difficult cases, indicated his mind and will by some supernatural appearance. Thus, as we know that upon each of the stones was to be engraved the name of one of the sons of Jacob, it has been conjectured that the letters forming the divine response became in some way or other distinguished from the other letters. The other principal opinion is, that the urim and thummim were two small oracular images similar to the teraphim, personifying revelation and truth, which were placed in the cavity or pouch formed by the folds of the breastplate, and which uttered oracles by a voice. Kitto. The latest opinion is that of Professor Plumptre, who supposes the Urim to have been a clear and colorless stone set in the breastplate of the high-priest as a symbol of light, answering to the mystic scarabæus in the pectoral plate of the ancient Egyptian priests, and that the Thummim was an image corresponding to that worn by the priestly judges of Egypt as a symbol of truth and purity of motive. By gazing steadfastly on these, he may have been thrown into a mysterious, half ecstatic state, akin to hypnotism, in which he lost all personal consciousness, and received a spiritual illumination and insight.—It is not known when this oracular mode of consulting God ceased. There is no instance of it in the Scriptures, during the time of the first temple, and it certainly was not practiced during that of the second.