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NASB | Exodus 28:30 "You shall put in the breastpiece of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the LORD; and Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 28:30 "In the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim (Lights) and the Thummim (Perfections) [to be used for determining God's will in a matter]. They shall be over Aaron's heart whenever he goes before the LORD, and Aaron shall always carry the judgment (verdict, judicial decisions) of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD. |
Bible Question: What are urim and thummim? |
Bible Answer: Israel Divination part 2 The standard Tarot deck is comprised of seventy-eight cards; twenty-two making up the "Major Arcana" (a collection of symbolic cards) and the "Minor Arcana" (composed of four suits; "wands", "cups", "swords" and "discs/pentacles"). It is believed that the original Tarot deck was made up of only the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana, and the Minor Arcana (a precursor to the modern playing deck) was added later on (21). What immediately is striking is the fact that the Major Arcana, the central focus of the Tarot, has as many cards are there are Hebrew letters. This understanding of the basis of each card from the Major Arcana as corresponding to a particular Hebrew letter from which it gains its divinatory power is maintained in the thought of prominent Tarot scholars; Eliphas Levi (22), Paul Foster Case (23), and Arthur Waite (24) are to name a few. The way in which Tarot cards are read are by means of "spreads"; particular arrangements based on religious concepts; the Celtic cross is one example, the four letters of the name of God and the four faces of the vision of Ezekiel are another. The meaning of the spread is interpreted by means of the symbol of card by virtue of the context of the spread in which it appears, and even more importantly, the inherent divinatory value of the card. Cards have different divinatory understandings by virtue of context as they appear with different cards or in different spreads. The divinatory value of the card is dependent on the Hebrew letter to which it corresponds and its mystical value in the general scheme of Creation. It is through the model of Tarot as a modern analogue worthy of further consideration that a clearer view of the Urim and Thummim can be seen. Biblical date alone helps us to know that the Urim and Thummim were stored in the priestly vestment of the breastpiece of judgment, which was attached to the epod. We know that the Urim and Thummim's purpose was to "inquire of God", in the context of the prophetic functions of the High Priest. From eptymological analysis of the Urim and Thummim we learn that illumination, light, truth and perfection are important themes that define the Urim and Thummim in a profound way. From studying the rabbinic and kabbalistic commentaries on the Torah we learn of a further understand of the Urim and Thummim as having relation to the Hebrew alphabet and its creative, mystical, and hence divinatory power. This leads us to the question of the usefulness of "modern" ( I admit Tarot as we know it isn't exactly "modern", but certainly not "ancient") analogues in understanding the exact way in which the Urim and Thummim would have been utilized. I propose not an argue for a historical link between the Tarot tradition and the Urim and Thummim; Tarot does not equate with the Urim and Thummim, they are not one and the same. Instead I see the Tarot's "spread" model of divination as analogous to the Urim and Thummim. I therefore conclude that the Urim and Thummim were a collection of twenty-two objects (likely discs or flat stones) upon which a Hebrew character was inscribed on each. These objects would be arranged in a particular spread and the high priest would then interpret them according to a method not unlike that of way cards are read in the Tarot tradition. |