Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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."
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.
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."
A Baraita explained why the Urim and Thummim noted in Leviticus 8:8 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 ...
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.
In 1900 Muss-Arnolt published an article positing a Babylonian origin for the words Urim and Thummim in the Hebrew Bible. This article originally appeared in the American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures and was thereafter published separately by the University of Chicago Press .
Aaron and his successors as high priest were given control over the Urim and Thummim by which the will of God could be determined. [ 30 ] [ 1 ] God commissioned the Aaronide priests to distinguish the holy from the common and the clean from the unclean, and to teach the divine laws (the Torah ) to the Israelites. [ 31 ]
In the cases of Hebrew transliteration into English, many Hebrew words have a long history of transliteration, for example Amen, Satan, ephod, Urim and Thummim have traditionally been transliterated, not translated. [2] These terms were in many cases also first transliterated into Greek and Latin before English.