The Mystery of the Urim and the Thummim

[0:00] Amen. Well, thank you ladies. Thank you, Noel. Great job. That's what Job said, didn't he? He said, I'll come forth as gold when I'm tried.

[0:12] ! But nobody wants to go through the trial to come forth as something valuable, something worthy, and something the Lord can be pleased with.

[0:23] So, God puts us through them anyway. And he's right. He's absolutely right. So, it's just hard for us to agree with him when it hurts.

[0:35] Alright, so let's get into our Bibles now. Would you open up to the book of Exodus and find chapter number 28? Exodus chapter 28. Boy, God is so good.

[0:52] He just is. It's just his nature. He's good to his children. Exodus 28. We've been in this passage three weeks already studying why God chose Aaron to be the high priest.

[1:06] Then studying for a little bit the office of a priest and kind of pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ and all of that. And then studying last time the making of the holy garments and saw that it required three things of God's people.

[1:19] Really, those same three things to do anything that God wants to see done by his people. It required willing hearts that would give. And we saw that from chapter 25. All the materials were given by the people of God.

[1:31] It required wise hearts as well. Those filled with the spirit of wisdom to offer their skills and their labor and service to doing and to fulfilling what God wanted to see done. And then the third and final thing was working hearts.

[1:44] Hearts that are ready to work, ready to get involved, ready to do the work of God. And it took all of that because we saw through this chapter that every single piece had some kind of work involved in it.

[1:55] Whether it was woven work or wreathen work or some cunning work. It was all of it had to do with engraving. The whole thing. The word work showed up all through that chapter.

[2:06] Now we're going to continue in the chapter. And I showed you in verse 4 there were six pieces or parts of this holy garments. And then at the end of the chapter the linen breeches making it seven pieces.

[2:20] It's not my intention to cover these individually and to attempt to make some spiritual application to each one. And show typology and to be very particular about everything the priest is wearing.

[2:30] That's not my intention and I think I would wear you out trying to do that. However, there is one unique piece in all of this that just stands out. It invokes much intrigue and much mystery.

[2:44] And that is the breastplate. And so I want to take the week today. It's probably going to come out a little bit differently. Where I'm not maybe I don't know how to come out completely. But I don't believe I'm going to be challenging you with any area of your Christian life today.

[2:57] Anyway, I think I might just be causing you to study the Bible a little bit and learn some things from the scriptures. And trust that the Lord will just use it to help you out and to be a blessing to you this morning.

[3:10] So I want to read the portion of this chapter that deals with the breastplate. It's going to start in verse 15 and go all the way down to verse number 30. So please follow along. Exodus 28 and verse 15.

[3:21] And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work. After the work of the ephod thou shalt make it. Of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen thou shalt make it.

[3:34] Four square it shall be being doubled. A span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set it in the settings of stones, even four rows of stones.

[3:46] The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle. And this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row, a liger, an agate, and an amethyst.

[4:02] And the fourth row, a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in their enclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet.

[4:17] Every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreath and work of pure gold. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold.

[4:29] And shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreath and chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the two wreath and chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod before it.

[4:48] And thou shalt make two rings of gold. And thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And two other rings of gold thou shalt make.

[4:59] And shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.

[5:20] And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord.

[5:38] And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. All right, you got all that? Can you see it?

[5:49] Can you just... Is it diagrammed? No, I don't know. That's some pretty wild stuff there to me. It's hard to gather at all. And this is God. Let's backtrack and remember.

[6:00] Moses is still up in the mount. He's been up there a long time. God is speaking. God has given one piece of instruction after another. And he's giving this to Moses. And as you remember, he told him to fashion the tabernacle after the pattern that he saw.

[6:14] And so I don't doubt for a minute that he didn't see all of this with his eyes and understand when God's speaking what it is God wants him to make. So this is approximately eight to nine inches.

[6:25] When it calls this in verse 16, a span by a span. And it's the same fabric as the ephod was made that we studied last week where we recognized, it mentioned it in verse 15, identical to what it said about the ephod.

[6:43] And so this is not a plate of gold. This is not a heavy, solid piece, like as you may imagine, but rather it's fine twined linen. And it's gold, purple, and scarlet and blue.

[6:55] And then likely, just like the ephod was, it had gold worked into it where we studied in verse, I think it was chapter 39, that the gold was beaten into thin plates and cut into wires and then worked into the fabric.

[7:08] So this is a similar thing here. It says being doubled in verse 16. So I believe that means it's doubled over to form kind of a pouch. And so if that's the case, within that it's embedded with four rows of very specific and precious stones.

[7:25] And each one of those is set in gold. And so the attachment of this, you can use your imagination how that's all woven in and set together. Each stone we read is engraved with one name of the 12 tribes of Israel.

[7:40] And then there's the various rings that we read and chains that we read that were used to mount it or to attach it to the ephod that it stayed attached to. And that's in verse 28.

[7:52] And then the biggest mystery of all. Verse number 30. Thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim. And this part of the high priest's holy garments to me is by far the most mysterious and confounding.

[8:11] By the wording in verse 30, it appears these are two separate and distinct pieces. It says the Urim and the Thummim. And they're placed in the breastplate.

[8:26] Thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment. Somehow. Now possibly, in my opinion, if I went back to verse 20, and it described the fourth row and the very final statement about those four rows says, they shall be set in gold in their enclosings.

[8:45] And I believe this thing that this pouch is enclosed then with gold as those stones are set inside gold themselves. And the Urim and Thummim placed inside of it all.

[8:57] Now this is, I said it's mysterious and it's confounding. There's a brief description that we read of the breastplate and a brief description there of this whole scene.

[9:10] But the description we read, in my opinion, does not satisfy the mystery of these two items. It doesn't teach us even why all of these twelve stones.

[9:23] We didn't read this, but back in verse 9 and 10, there's two onyx stones that are put up on the shoulder with the names of these twelve tribes on. Six on one, six on the other. The names are already on the high priest.

[9:34] Why are we doubling down on the names and putting them in individual stones? Colorful, beautiful stones. Precious stones. Like the work of an engraving. They would be jewel stones.

[9:46] They would be cut just right as they should be. So they're not just, you know, found them in the dirt and stuck it in there somehow. These things are really highly ornate and beautiful. I'm not going to be able to give you too much by way of definitive answers to the questions that are just going to come up in your mind about what you're reading and trying to understand it fully.

[10:07] But I would like to consider these items that we've read and relate them probably to the only thing or to the only person that I believe they can relate to. And that would be the Lord God Almighty.

[10:20] And so I want to say a few things about this. And let me show you what they are. First, I want to consider the origin of these items in verse 30, the Urim and the Thummim. I want to consider the name of the Urim and the Thummim.

[10:31] And I want to consider then their purpose or their role. And so let's look at this together and see if we can learn something or just understand a little bit about what this is.

[10:43] Side note. When you read through your Bible, it's worthy, in my opinion, to take kind of almost the time off of trying to preach something at you and get you to get help and get changed and whatever.

[10:55] It's worth it to take a week and to study something out because it should encourage you and it should spark you to have an interest in the words of God and to want to know what you're reading.

[11:06] But it should also intrigue and drive you to have a fellowship with God in reading your Bible. I'm going to turn to some passages and I'm going to maybe just talk about some passages that it's on you to be in your Bible and to read through this book and to read through this book and to get more and to understand so that when I get up here, I don't have to take everybody to every spot.

[11:27] Now, most of the time I will. But sometimes it's good for you to know what the book says so that I say it, you're like, yeah, I know that. I've read that. And I want you people to be Bible readers and to be literate in the scriptures so that not just for ease of study but for your own good and so that you know that this is a wild thing here, but it has mentions all over this book, several places this stuff shows up.

[11:58] And so we're going to try to cover some of it this morning. So in verse number 15, we read, Thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work. After the work of the ephod, thou shalt make it.

[12:09] Of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, fine twine linen, thou shalt make it. That's the same description back in verse number 6 and 7, the ephod.

[12:20] Now there's the material listed for making the ephod. There's the material listed for making the breastplate. Verse number 31, when it talks about making the robe, Thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

[12:35] And it describes, so it has the material there in verse 33. You can see somewhere where there's material of blue, purple, scarlet. And it mentions gold throughout here with a golden bell.

[12:46] Well, in verse number 36, thou shalt make a plate of pure gold. And we know where they got this material from, from those willing hearts that gave it.

[12:57] In verse 39, the embroidered coats, fine linen, and describes that. It describes in verse 40 and going on. Everything is given the material.

[13:08] It's given a description of its making. But I want to consider the origin of this Urim and Thummim mentioned in verse 30. We know where all the other materials came from.

[13:21] We know where the onyx stones for the ephod shoulder pieces came from. We know where the stones came from. If you're not sure, just do a quick little flip over to chapter 35. Just a real quick look at 35.

[13:32] And look at verse 27. This is the passage we looked at last Sunday about the people coming and giving of their offering willingly.

[13:47] 35, 27. And the rulers brought onyx stones and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. We know where all the stones came from. But this mention of Urim and Thummim, where did it come from?

[14:04] Read the passage again. Read the chapter again. Read the book again. There's no mention of what they're made of. Of who made it. There's no description of a pattern or instructions given.

[14:17] No material, no description. Nothing. As a matter of fact, what I read to you, I was showing you in verse 6. They shall make the ephod. In verse 15, thou shalt make the breastplate.

[14:30] And you see the same thing for all the other items. But in verse 30, thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and Thummim. Didn't say thou shalt make a Urim and make a Thummim and do it of this and then put it in.

[14:46] It doesn't tell you anything about them. It's very mysterious. And so when we consider the origin, we don't really have any record of where they came from, when they were made.

[14:59] There's nothing. Look at chapter 39. Keep your place here, but flip over to 39. This is fast forwarding to when Moses comes down and then they make these items. And this is the construction of these items.

[15:12] In Exodus 39. And I won't go through the entire chapter, but the breastplate's made in verse number 8. And it's almost word for word and verbatim.

[15:23] Almost exactly what God told Moses to do. And they went and did it. Verse 8. And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, fine-tired linen, four square.

[15:34] And they begin going through this whole list with all the stones, with all the wreathen chains of gold and the rings. And when you get down to verse 21, it ends talking about the breastplate and all of it being attached.

[15:49] And I'm reading the last half of 21. It says, And the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he made, here comes the Urim and Thummim, right?

[16:01] No, it just skips right past it. Not even mentioned in this chapter that's describing the fashioning, the making of all of the garments. It skips right ahead to the woven work of the ephod, the robe of the ephod.

[16:20] And so there's no mention of it. It's wild. Look at now Leviticus chapter 8. Go a little further. Now this is the place where all the garments are made. And now they're going to put them upon the high priest Aaron and consecrate him to the office of the priest.

[16:35] We studied this a little bit last week as well. Or maybe two weeks ago, I believe, with this office of a priest. Leviticus chapter 8 and verse 8. And he put the breastplate upon him.

[16:49] Also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. And so there they are. They have them in their possession. Moses had them. He put them in the breastplate.

[17:00] But no description of what they look like, what they're made of, who made them, where they came from. The origin of the Urim and the Thummim is a mystery.

[17:13] Nobody knows. And I mean nobody. So what on earth can we relate that to? Or maybe who can we confidently say was not made or that there's no mention of his origin or beginning.

[17:31] The Bible says, All things were made by him. And without him was not anything made that was made. And so speaking of God the creator, All things in creation have a maker.

[17:48] All things were made by him. All creatures. All creation. There's only one that's exempt from an origin. And that is the person of God himself.

[18:00] Besides him, what can we relate this to? And while we're considering today the origin of these two mysterious items, Nothing relates but the person of God.

[18:12] The creator. The origin of life. And the origin or originator of all that moves and all that breathes. In the beginning, God.

[18:25] God already was there in the beginning. Before the mountains were formed or ever brought forth the, or before the earth was formed and brought forth the mountains, Thou art God.

[18:38] That's Psalm 90. I butchered it. But it's Psalm 90, the very beginning. Maybe verse 2. Before anything was formed. Before any thou art. And when God said, I am that I am.

[18:50] He's an eternal existent being. Before me, he says in Isaiah, was no God formed. He goes on to say, I am God.

[19:00] Yea, before the day was, I am he. So if I could liken that and consider, when we're looking at the Urim and the Thummim, and find, where did it come from?

[19:11] We can't make any sense of any of this. Considering its origin, it seems to show me one thing and one thing only. A picture and relation of God himself. The person of God.

[19:21] But there's more. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 28. And notice these names in verse 30. Let's consider the names of these items.

[19:35] The Urim and the Thummim. And then nothing else. Just tells us they existed. But what do the names mean?

[19:46] What can we discern about them? If we can't find anything to study, if we can't find any particulars, then can we learn anything from their names at least? Well, this is interesting.

[19:57] Because the names, they're peculiar. And the exact wording, or the exact Hebrew word that these are, they're kind of elusive to find a clear definition, a perfect one.

[20:10] It's debated. Of what does that mean? So it's not like you can just go to the dictionary and say, well, that's what it means because everybody knows that. It's not that easy.

[20:20] These are names with capital letters given to two specific items. And it's commonly understood and it's widely received or believed that the word Urim means lights.

[20:36] Lights. Or to shine. It's also commonly received and believed by the majority that the word Thummim means perfections or to make whole or complete.

[20:50] And putting those two thoughts together, the names convey complete illumination or you might say perfect light. Now, nobody's an authority on this and the Bible's pretty much silent on it.

[21:06] And so I do not want to be accused of making something up that's not in the Bible. Please understand that this is all kind of has an asterisk beside it saying, I don't know what those words mean.

[21:20] But it sure seems to mean lights, perfections, or perfect or complete light or illumination. Now, I'm going to go with that and let's see where that takes us and see if you would be convinced that when we consider those names that there's something that it reveals to us as well.

[21:41] There seems to be an indication that the stones of the breastplate illuminate when the Urim and the Thummim within the breastplate is activated.

[21:52] Now, if this sounds spooky and sounds kind of like a stretch to you already, well, let me just, let me give you a little Bible that might make sense to you.

[22:03] There's only two passages in the Bible where you can find God designing something with a similar assortment of a multitude of precious stones.

[22:15] Does anybody got a take on one? Does anybody, there's two places where you'll find an assortment of precious stones. Where is one of them? The foundations of the city, New Jerusalem, Revelation 21.

[22:29] And then the other one, which is long before that, somebody, Ezekiel 28, and the anointed cherub that covereth.

[22:42] He said, Lucifer. And so let's take a look at these two passages together and just do a brief Bible study on whether or not it may be plausible that these, the names of these words are reflecting light and perfect illumination.

[22:58] Let's consider something from wherever else we can look in the Bible to study this. We're going to Ezekiel 28 first because this is a, the first time it would show up as far as chronologically speaking.

[23:13] this reference to this anointed cherub precedes Adam and Eve. So therefore, precedes the high priest. In verse number 13, I'm not going to give you a whole lot of backdrop to this here.

[23:31] Just kind of dive right into what the text says about this being. In verse 13, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Hmm. So I wonder who that would be. Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, diamond.

[23:46] You're going to count nine of them here. Not 12, but you'll count nine. And these are all matching nine that are in the priest. Sardius, topaz, diamond, barrel, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle, and gold.

[24:01] That's not a tenth stone. That's a precious metal. So I believe that this being was a golden being that the precious stones are set in himself, this golden cherub.

[24:14] In verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. And then iniquity is found in him in verse 15, and he gets cast out. And so it's a description of something in the past with Lucifer and his heart being lifted up.

[24:31] Now keep your place right there. We're not done with that yet. Find Revelation 21 now. If you can stick something in Exodus, we'll go back.

[24:44] Eh, we might not. Revelation 21, and this is the other mention, all the way to the end of time and into eternity.

[24:56] And this is the city, New Jerusalem, that's mentioned earlier in the chapter. The holy city in verse 2, New Jerusalem.

[25:08] And just getting to this part about these stones, you can skim verse 8, verse 19. The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.

[25:20] The first, all the way to the 12th, from verse 19 and 20. Look through there, you'll see them numbered. And not all the names match, but we're looking at an assortment of precious stones garnishing foundations foundations of the walls of the city.

[25:37] And I wanted to point one more thing out. Look at verse 18. It says, The building of the wall of it was of jasper. And this statement here says, The city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

[25:51] So here again, we have gold with precious stones set in them. Now the point I want to hang on to is to relate this back to what we're studying to make this seem like it makes a connection to me.

[26:05] These are beautiful stones. And all of that beauty is lifeless and lackluster if there's not one thing. Light.

[26:17] If there's no light, then you're not getting the effect of the stone. Look at verse number 23. No, yeah, verse 23. The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it.

[26:34] And the Lamb is the light thereof. We read that the gold is pure like unto clear glass. The stones are set in that gold that is translucent.

[26:46] The light of Jesus Christ in the city shining forth, illuminating the glory of God there is coming out. If you were externally looking, what John is seeing has got to be something that I have not seen otherwise.

[27:03] Nor ear heard neither enter into the heart of the man and things which God has prepared for them that love him. You're talking about a light show beyond understanding or human comprehension.

[27:15] Now back in Ezekiel, there was one thing that was missing and it's light. But this being that God made the anointed cherub, look at verse 17. Ezekiel 28 and verse 17.

[27:27] It says, Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. This being was a glorious, bright being.

[27:42] Shining clear with his gold and covered in his ornate, beautiful, precious stones. He was a reflection or a miniature of this city of what God created for one thing.

[27:54] You can compare the two pretty easily but even surrounding the throne is a rainbow. If you read that in Revelation 4, you read that in Ezekiel chapter 1 that, I'll just read that verse to you while we're close.

[28:06] Ezekiel 1 and verse 28 as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain so is the appearance of the brightness round about. This is the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

[28:16] And so this is God in full, colorful, and glorious display. Now, coming back to the stones, in both cases that we looked at where else we can look in the Bible, the stones are not without light.

[28:33] Regarding the breastplate, it would be my assumption therefore that these precious, colorful stones set in gold need a light source. So the Urim and the Thummim placed inside of the breastplate and behind the stones as we understand, when it is activated, for lack of a better word, it causes the breastplate to come alive with light and with color.

[29:01] And we'll get to that in a moment, but when we're considering the name, there's somebody else who has a name and a title that relates to light.

[29:11] I think you know who he is. Why don't you flip over to John chapter 1. It's none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called on multiple occasions the light of the word or the world.

[29:26] He's called the true light. He's called in connection to light, he's called life. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[29:37] I want to put those two words on top of each other for a moment because what I see is when that Urim and Thummim is activated, I can't picture what it looks like inside, but when it's activated it comes alive.

[29:50] There's life, there's light, something is moving, something is happening and we'll get to that just in a moment. Look at John chapter 1 verse 4, speaking of the word that was made flesh or the word in eternity, the word was God.

[30:03] Verse 4 says, in him was life and the life was the light of men and that is in verse 9, the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

[30:17] Look at John chapter 8 and verse number 12. John 8 verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world.

[30:37] He that follow with me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. Light and life. Christ said that he is the resurrection and the life.

[30:52] The way, the truth and the life. Look back at John chapter 5 and look at verse 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.

[31:16] And we know verse 24, believing on him. Verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but has passed from death unto life.

[31:29] Now considering the name of the Urim and Thummim and the potential, the likelihood of the name giving a flavor or description of what it is, lights, perfect light, it appears to me that it speaks of the person of Jesus Christ.

[31:49] Without that true light, the world is in complete darkness. and with that true light comes eternal life. You can't have it without the Son of God and Jesus is what makes dead things come to life and I would say that that breastplate is as well perfect, made as it was and crafted and engraved, all of that put together, it lacks something until there's life, until there's the light that can do something and this is bringing us to the third thought, the role of the Urim and Thummim.

[32:24] What is the role? What is the purpose of these Urim and Thummim being inside pertaining to the breastplate itself? It's placed inside of it so what's the point?

[32:35] Is it, I don't think it's just to have a light show. I don't think it's just to show somebody like, ooh look, that's spooky and look it's alive and the priest has it on and we're afraid of him now.

[32:46] I don't believe that anything to do with that. It's not to wow or cause anyone to wonder but these are mentioned in the Bible several times and the mentions give an indication that this was used as a means of which God communicated to man and man could question and ask God thoughts and he would respond to them via the breastplate but not without the Urim and Thummim.

[33:12] Let me show you what I mean. Let's run a little chain of references here. Come to Numbers chapter 27. Get ready. We're going to run a little chain. Numbers 27.

[33:25] I'm not going to turn you to every place those two words show up but I'll give you a few important ones. In this chapter we're learning that God is going to use Joshua in the place of Moses and Aaron's son Eliezer is already is going to be the one that follows Aaron and so he's kind of looking to the future telling about who's going to be these leadership roles not Aaron and Moses but then Joshua and Eliezer and let's look at verse 18 the Lord said unto Moses take thee Joshua the son of Nun a man in whom is the spirit and lay thine hand upon him and set him before Eliezer the priest and before all the congregation and give him a charge in their sight now shall put some of thine honor upon him that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient and he shall stand before

[34:27] Eliezer the priest who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord at his word that is Joshua's at his word shall they go out and at his word they shall come in both he and all the children of Israel with him even all the congregation so when Joshua needs to know God what do we do how do we proceed do we attack him don't we attack him he goes to the high priest Eliezer who is put on all of his holy garments and he asks counsel and God gives him answer I'll show you an example look at Joshua chapter 1 Joshua chapter 1 and verse number 1 it doesn't say anything about the high priest here or about the breastplate but it it tells us something that we can kind of read between the lines connect some dots now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun

[35:38] Moses minister saying Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go now you read through that and you're not picturing the high priest being involved but let me show you something before we go any further flip back a page or two to Deuteronomy 34 the very last part of the previous book Deuteronomy 34 and verse number 9 and Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands upon him and the children of Israel hearkened unto him and did as the Lord commanded Moses and there was not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face God spoke with Moses without the high priest and the breastplate and the Urum and Thum but nobody else when he communicated to Joshua he did it through the priest and that's what he told him earlier look at Judges chapter 1 now while we're turning there's a teaching or at least a kind of a a traditional teaching that goes back into some Jewish history and thought and writings that the Urum and Thum which no one's ever seen to have written about this goes it's been nowhere to be found forever but they suggest some teach that these are two stones a black stone a white stone and you get that yin and yang thought off of that but nevertheless that they were placed in the breastplate and the high priest would reach in and grab one meant yes or one meant no like it was a positive and negative and the teaching is that they would ask a question and they would get a yes or no answer and you can apply that to a few places where it's just kind of a yes or no answer but what we read in Joshua

[37:30] I didn't go through it but the Lord speaks to Joshua and it is not yes or no it is a whole be strong and have good courage and this book of the law shall not depart from that's all the Lord speaking to Joshua now look at Judges chapter 1 verse 1 now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord saying who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to fight against them and the Lord said Judah shall go up behold I have delivered the land into his hand so how did God say that he did it through the priest look at Judges chapter 20 and as we read this make a little mental note for something that I'll close with just a bonus thought at the end but make a mental note while we're here in Judges 20 I'll point this out in verse 26 the children of Israel are fighting against the children of Benjamin there's some civil unrest going on in verse 26 says that all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto the house of God and wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted there until even and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings unto the

[38:39] Lord and the children of Israel inquired of the Lord and the parenthesis says for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days and Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days and now back to their inquiring of the Lord saying shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother or shall I cease and the Lord said here's his answer go up now how did he do this well the high priest Eleazar is standing in this case it says before the ark of the covenant of God just plug that back into your memory but the question is being asked the priest is present he has to be present and I'll comment on that later look at 1st Samuel 23 still running this chain a little bit further a couple more references here 1st Samuel 23 this is David David's on the run from Saul David wants to inquire of the

[39:41] Lord and he does so a few times here I'll just show you this one verse number 6 and it came to pass when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah that he came down with an ephod in his hand you know what's attached to that ephod is the breastplate and so this priest is escaping Doag who's killing all the priests in the previous chapter where David is there inquiring of the Lord as well but he brought the ephod down and let's continue reading here in this passage let's see here okay verse 9 and David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him and he said to Abiathar the priest bring hither the ephod then said

[40:42] David O Lord God of Israel thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah to destroy him city will the man of Keilah deliver up to his hand will Saul come down the Lord God answers him here in verse 11 at the end he will come down then said David will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men in the hand of Saul and the Lord said they will deliver thee up but he can't get that answer from God without that ephod without the breastplate without the urim and thumim inside the breastplate look at chapter 30 put it put it one here. 28 and verse 6. Look at 28.6. This is Saul. And he's afraid of the Philistines that have gathered against him. And so he inquires of the Lord. 28.6. When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. He can't get the Lord to speak. And so he tries and it doesn't work. Look at chapter 30 now and verses 8 and 9. Verse 7. 7 and 8. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the Himalek's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought hither the ephod to David.

[42:19] And David inquired at the Lord, saying, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered, pursue. It's not a yes or no, but it's pursue. For thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all. And that's exactly what verse 19 says took place.

[42:37] And that's happening with the ephod, with the breastplate attached to it. Now there's another mention. You don't need to turn. It's two more times it's mentioned when the captivity of 70 years takes place and Ezra comes back and they're trying to discern who's the priest and what's the genealogy and can you show it by genealogy and by writing. And some were not, so they were considered polluted. They were cast out of the priesthood. And the statement came up to say, well, we're not going to have you priests eat of any of the holy stuff. They're offering sacrifices. But he says, you're not to eat of any of that until a priest stands up with Urim and Thummim.

[43:16] Till that high priest can have on his holy garb and be anointed and have the whole thing set up. But he said, we're not going any further with this until we get that set up. And that's repeated in the book of Nehemiah as well, reminding them that Ezra did that. So it looks like the Urim and Thummim and the breastplate and all that survived the captivity. But where it goes after that, it's a mystery to me.

[43:40] Now, we're considering the role. Considering the role as this breastplate and within the Urim and Thummim within it, operating as a medium of something that can relate the will of God to man. Can I make one more relation here from the Bible? And I'll just ask you to turn to this one place. If you're still in 1 Samuel, you can stay there for one last verse later, but go to 1 Corinthians 2.

[44:10] 1 Corinthians 2. And here's just one last reference to consider in relating the role of the Urim and Thummim. I'll begin in verse number 7. 1 Corinthians 2.7. Let's read about eight verses.

[44:35] 1 Corinthians 2.7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. So God ordained some wisdom, but he didn't let anybody know about it. All right? Well, how's somebody going to get to know about it? How are they going to discern and understand the mind of God and his will? In verse 9, as it is written, I hath not seen, nor he heard, neither is entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. So considering this role, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit of God has the role of illuminating the minds of men and women to the things of God and to truth. If you don't have the Spirit of God, you're not going to know it. You're a natural man and it's all foolishness unto you. And so if we could summarize these three things we've looked at within the Urim and Thummim, the origin, or rather the lack of origin for these two things, it points to the person of God that has no beginning and has no origin. The name of these two items relates, it seems, to the light of the world, the only begotten Son of God. And the role of the Urim and Thummim seems to point to the person and to the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

[46:48] And these three are one. Now I don't have anything else to say about the Urim and Thummim and what goes on, except here's one bonus thought for you if you want it.

[47:00] 1 Samuel chapter 14. This one I cannot prove is true, but it has, it just, I've read this for years of my life and always thought, what is he doing?

[47:11] And now I wonder, I wonder now if I don't know what he's doing. In 1 Samuel 14, the Philistines have Israel in subjection and Jonathan and his armor bearer go up and fight against the garrison.

[47:32] They defeat him and now a full-on war is going to break out and the Philistines are going to run. And Saul, in the meantime, he's not aware of all these details and he's trying to figure out what's going on and figure out who's with us and who's not.

[47:50] And so he says in verse 18, Saul said unto Ahiah, he's the priest, he says, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel.

[48:04] Now remember that the high priest and judges, that he stood before the ark of God to ask counsel. And they spoke through the priest to God. Okay? Now verse 19.

[48:16] And it came to pass while Saul talked unto the priest, so the king talks to the priest and the priest gets the answer from God, that the noise was in the host of the Philistines, it went on and increased.

[48:28] And Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand. Now I've always thought, what is he withdrawing his hand from? From the ark? Is he touching the ark?

[48:40] Why is he touching the ark? I never understood that. Others say, Oh no, he's reaching into his breastplate to pull out a stone. No way. I think that thing is so bogus and just wash that away.

[48:53] Okay. It appears the ark of God was there at that time. Why does he need the ark of God there? Why does it tell us that there as well as judges? My guess, and I can't say this is borne out through the entirety of the book, but my guess is that the ark of God in between the cherubims, the presence of God, that if the priest would have contact with that, that that would activate the Urim and Thummim to give answer of whatever the question is.

[49:25] Now how does it give an answer? Some say the letters of the names that are inscribed on the stones would light up, but that's not the entire alphabet in Hebrew.

[49:36] In Hebrew. So maybe that's true. Maybe not. Some say a thought, you know how the old scoreboards are up in the gymnasiums where they're just light bulbs, and it lights up one of them to make a seven, lights up other ones to make a five.

[49:50] I wonder if the letters couldn't come out in that fashion. That's just, I don't know. But something's going on with that Urim and Thummim, and it sure seems that those stones need light for them to be worth anything.

[50:06] And in my opinion, it could be that he's making contact with the Ark of God, and that activates it, and now he can speak through the priest to God, and get an answer through that breastplate, where he has to have on all his holy garments, he has to be anointed and consecrated unto God, or he's a dead man, as we've already studied that.

[50:29] And so it seems like God speaks to them, to the nation of Israel, to the king, or he doesn't, as Saul sought for an answer, and God wouldn't answer him by Urim or Thummim.

[50:40] So, I don't know. I see this in these three ways, as representing the person of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and I think that's an interesting takeaway.

[50:51] What else are you going to apply this to? There's not much to go on. It is interesting to study this, I know, I think so anyway. It may be over some of your heads for that. I'm sorry. Next week, we'll get back into some meat and potatoes, and something you can digest, or tacos, or whatever makes sense to you.

[51:08] Something you can take and handle and enjoy. But it's possible that that consecrated priest makes contact with the ark, and activates that in getting an answer from God.

[51:20] So, that's for what it's worth. I encourage your own study and conversation, and see if this goes anywhere. You learn something from this, or maybe you can even take it a step further yourself, and find a reference and say, hey, what does this mean?

[51:33] Or is this possible? You say, I'd love to find it, because I kind of came to the end of my time this week in studying this out, and I'm sure there's something I'm not quite getting. So, I hope that was edifying to you.

[51:44] I hope you enjoyed the study of the Bible this morning. Sometimes it's not always the same, each week by week, but I'm glad you came. I hope you got something, and I hope you enjoyed it.

[51:55] And so, let's take that with us on our way, and then be a faithful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Let's pray. Fathers, we dismiss. I thank you for this time with your people. Thank you for their attentiveness, and for their interest in the Word of God.

[52:08] And I ask that you'll just help us to appreciate this book even more, and to care about the things you care about, and to spend the time it takes to get in it, and to study it, and to show ourselves approved.

[52:20] Lord, give us a conviction for this book, and give us also a conviction for the lost souls in our lives, and help us to be faithful in winning them to Christ. We pray you'll be with Linda West, be with Linda Pfeffer as well, and heal them up quickly, and bring them back to church as you see fit, and we'll trust you for their health, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.

[52:37] Amen. Amen. Amen.