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Urim (אוּרִים ) traditionally has been taken to derive from a root meaning "lights"; these derivations are reflected in the Neqqudot of the Masoretic Text. [3] In consequence, Urim and Thummim has traditionally been translated as "lights and perfections" (by Theodotion, for example), or, by taking the phrase allegorically, as meaning "revelation and truth" or "doctrine and truth."
The earliest source that expands the term "Urim and Thummim" outside the biblical context is a reverse association William W. Phelps made on Hosea 3:4 in July 1832, stating that the children of Israel "were even to do without the Teraphim, [Urim & Thummim, perhaps] or sacred spectacles or declarers."
Sometime after 1828, Smith and his early contemporaries began to use the terms "seer stone" and "Urim and Thummim" interchangeably, referring to Smith's brown stone as a "Urim and Thummim." [38] [39] D. Michael Quinn argues Smith eventually began using "biblical terminology to mainstream an instrument and practice of folk magic...
The term 'Urim and Thummim' was not initially used by Smith and his associates prior to around 1832, instead referring to the device as 'interpreters' or 'spectacles'. [85] The words Urim and Thummim derive from passages in the Old Testament which describe the use of "the Urim and the Thummim" as a means for divination by Israelite priests (see ...
The Hebrew words Urim and Thummim are used due to a belief among scholars at the time that "Light and Truth" was an adequate translation for these words. [2] According to the Hebrew Bible, the priests used tools called the Urim and Thummim to discern the will of God.
A baraita explained why the Urim and Thummim noted in Exodus 28:30 were called by those names: The term "Urim" is like the Hebrew word for "lights," and thus it was called "Urim" because it enlightened. The term "Thummim" is like the Hebrew word tam meaning "to be complete," and thus it was called "Thummim" because its predictions were fulfilled.
During the earliest phase of translation, Smith said he used what he called Urim and Thummim, two stones set in a frame like a set of large spectacles. [104] Witnesses said Smith placed the Urim and Thummim in his hat while he was translating. [105]
Smith said that he used seer stones (one set of which Smith later called the Urim and Thummim) translate the plates he said to possess. [1] Translation ceased, however, when Harris lost 116 manuscript pages of uncopied text. Translation resumed in earnest when Smith was joined in May 1829 by a Smith family associate named Oliver Cowdery.