On June 19, 2010, Dave Harris will give the sermon, titled, “The Church of God.”
The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.
A new StandingWatch program was posted on the Web, “The Horror of ‘Artificial Life.'” In the program, the following was discussed: Two American scientists claim that they created artificial life with no ancestor. But the new biological science has the potential to do great harm. And what about animal cross-breeding, cloning, human-animal hybrids, nanobots and self-replicating robots? What does the Bible have to say about man’s desire to “play God”?
A new German sermon was posted on the Web, titled, “Lazarus und der Reiche” (“Lazarus and the Rich Man).”
The member letter for June has been written and will be posted shortly and sent out early next week.
Let us first of all understand that there is nothing in the Bible demanding a red heifer to be born prior to the return of Jesus Christ. It is true, however, that some Jews and Christians have attached an end-time application to the ancient Old Testament ritual of the killing of a red heifer for purposes of purification. As will be explained herein, this ritual is no longer in force. But some Jews and Christians believe that the ritual must be applied today, as a prerequisite for the commencement of sacrifices and the building of a third temple, and they expect a red heifer soon to be born. (In fact, when conducting a Yahoo search on the Internet, one receives about 280,000 results for “red heifer.”).
To obtain a better understanding as to the rationale behind this expectation, let us first review the rituals pertaining to the red heifer, as described in Numbers 19.
The Wikipedia Encyclopedia informs us that “The Red Heifer… was a sacrificial cow whose ashes were used for the ritual purification of people who came into contact with a corpse. According to Numbers 19:2: ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came [a] yoke’… The heifer is then slain (Numbers 19:3) and burned outside of the camp (Numbers 19:3–6)… the remaining ashes are placed in a vessel containing pure water (Numbers 19:9).
“In order to purify a person who has become ritually contaminated by contact with a corpse, water from the vessel is sprinkled on him, using a bunch of hyssop, on the third and seventh day of the decontamination process (Numbers 19:18–19)… The kohen [Levitical priest] who performs the ritual must… bathe himself and his clothes in water. He shall be deemed impure until evening.”
Just based on this description, it is indeed difficult to see at first how the ancient “red heifer” ritual could have anything to do with the coming of the Messiah or even a purification ceremony pertaining to a third temple. However, we should take note of the fact that the ritual was applied in conjunction with the tabernacle in the wilderness, the predecessor of the temple (compare Numbers 19:4, 13).
Based on their “interpretations,” the “oral law” and other traditional “additions” to the Law of God, Judaism has established all kinds of requirements in relationship to the “red heifer” and the “water of purification.”
The Wikipedia Encyclopedia explains:
“… the presence of two black hairs [or two white hairs, see below] invalidates a Red Heifer [as the Jews understand the requirement that the red heifer must be “without spot” as meaning, “without any other color but red,” or “having no mixture of any other color but red”]… there are various other requirements, such as natural birth (Caesarian section renders a Heifer candidate invalid). The water must be ‘living’ or spring water… Rainwater… cannot be used in the Red Heifer ceremony. The Mishnah reports that in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, water for the ritual came from the Spring of Shiloah…
“To ensure complete ritual purity of those involved, enormous care was taken to ensure that no-one involved in the Red Heifer ceremony could have had any contact with the dead… The Mishnah recounts that children were used to draw and carry the water for the ceremony, children born and reared in isolation for the specific purpose of ensuring that they never came into contact with a corpse…
“According to the Mishnah, the ceremony of the burning of the Red Heifer itself took place on the Mount of Olives. A pure priest slaughtered the Heifer, and totally sprinkled of its blood in the direction of the Temple seven times… In recent years, the site of the burning of the Red Heifer on the Mount of Olives has been tentatively located by archaeologist Yonatan Adler…
“The existence of a red heifer that conforms with all of the rigid requirements [of Jewish tradition] is a biological anomaly. The animal must be entirely of one color, and there are a series of tests listed by the rabbis to ensure this, for instance, the hair of the cow must be absolutely straight (to ensure that the cow had not previously been yoked, as this is a disqualifier). According to Jewish tradition, only nine Red Heifers were actually slaughtered in the period extending from Moses to the destruction of the Second Temple…
“The absolute rarity of the animal, combined with the mystical ritual in which it is used, have given the Red Heifer special status in Jewish tradition… Because the state of ritual purity obtained through the ashes of a Red Heifer is a necessary prerequisite for participating in any Temple service, efforts have been made in modern times by Jews wanting to rebuild the Temple to locate a red heifer and recreate the ritual…”
Gershom Gorenberg writes the following in “The End of Days,” copyright 2001:
“… this sacrifice [of the red heifer] must be performed outside the Temple, yet the heifer’s ash becomes the key to the sanctuary: It alone can cleanse a man or woman tainted by contact with human death… anyone who touches a corpse, or bone, or grave, anyone who even enters the room of a dead body, is rendered impure, and must not enter the Temple. Yet proximity to death is an unavoidable part of life… So to free a person from impurity… mix the heifer’s cinder with water, and sprinkle the mixture on him… Two white hairs would disqualify [the heifer]… The last ashes of the last heifer ran out sometime after the Romans razed the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70. Every Jew became impure by reason of presumed contact with death…”
We need to understand that the temporary ritual pertaining to the red heifer pointed at and foreshadowed the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible explains:
“This burning of the heifer [was not] performed at the altar… yet was typical of the death and sufferings of Christ… It must not only be without blemish, typifying the spotless purity and sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus, but it must [be] a red heifer, because of the rarity of the colour… Christ, as man, was the Son of Adam, red earth, and we find him red in his apparel, red with his own blood, and red with the blood of his enemies. And it must be one on which never came [a] yoke, which was not insisted on in other sacrifices, but thus was typified the voluntary offer of the Lord Jesus… our Lord Jesus, being made sin and a curse for us, suffered without the gate…
“Eleazar was to sprinkle the blood directly before the door of the tabernacle, and looking steadfastly towards it… This signified the satisfaction that was made to God by the death of Christ, our great high priest, who by the eternal Spirit… offered himself without spot unto God…”
Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible adds:
“The ordinance of the red heifer was a sacrifice of general application. All the people were to have an interest in it, and therefore the people at large are to provide the sacrifice… the ordinance of the red heifer… was designed to typify the sacrifice of our blessed Lord.”
As mentioned before, the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ superseded the red heifer ceremony. Paul writes in Hebrews 9:9-10 that the Old Testament rituals and fleshly ordinances were only imposed until the time of reformation. In this context, he says in Hebrews 9:11-14:
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come… Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and THE ASHES OF A HEIFER, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary writes:
“The water of separation, made of the ashes of the red heifer, was the provision for removing ceremonial defilement whenever incurred by contact with the dead. As she was slain without the camp, so Christ… The ashes were laid by for constant use; so the continually cleansing effects of Christ’s blood, once for all shed. In our wilderness journey we are continually contracting defilement by contact with the spiritually dead, and with dead works…”
Paul made very clear that Christ came to “take away” sacrifice and offering (Hebrews 10:8-10), and that there is no longer a requirement of offering for sin (Hebrews 10:18). He wrote that the Old Covenant with its rituals has been made obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Rather than being purified with water mixed with ashes from a red heifer, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). Paul also explains in Galatians 3:24-25 that we are no longer under the tutor of the ritual law.
It is also interesting to note that the procedures for the inauguration of the Millennial temple, which are outlined in Ezekiel 40, beginning with verse 18, do not mention a red heifer or water of purification.
In conclusion, the red heifer ritual is no longer biblically commanded, and the Bible does not demand the birth and sacrifice of a red heifer and its ashes as a requirement for the return of Christ. However, it is very likely that Jewish clerics may insist that the sacrifice of such a heifer to produce the ashes for the water of purification of the Temple Mount and the temple itself will be essential for the reconstruction of the temple and the coming of the Messiah. We can therefore expect that the diligent search for a “pure” and “spotless” red heifer will continue.
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
On June 12, 2010, Norbert Link will give the sermon, titled, “To the Ephesians, Part 3.”
The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.
A new German sermon was posted on the Web, titled, “Das Evangelium und Sie, Teil 3” (“The Gospel and You, Part 3”)
In Old Testament times, God established a system whereby the poor would not be in perpetual poverty. God did this in His great mercy, knowing what human nature is like, and that there are those who accumulate and those who squander. He did not want a few extremely wealthy individuals ruling over the masses who were just getting by, or who became and were poor. In reflecting on the situation of this world, Christ said in Matthew 26:11: “For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.” He knew that as long as Satan rules this world; as long as human carnality exists; and as long as societies work in the way they do; the poor would always be among us.
Of course, this was not what God had intended. He told the ancient Israelites in Deuteronomy 15:4 that if God would richly bless the people, “there may be no poor among you.” But anticipating that ancient Israel would not be obedient enough so that God could bless them beyond measure, He said in Deuteronomy 15:11: “For the poor will never cease from the land…”
Those who were too poor to pay their debts could sell their property and even “sell” themselves to their creditors to work for them. But God saw to it that there would be the possibility of being “freed” from such indebtedness, including by means of the “Jubilee Year.”
When did the Jubilee Year begin and what did it entail?
We read in Leviticus 25:8-14:
“And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field. In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another.”
Notice that the Jubilee Year began on the Day of Atonement. This annual Holy Day points at a future time when mankind will be released from the captivity of Satan and from the oppression of this present evil world. At the time of ancient Israel, the Jubilee Year designated a release from all debts and a repossession of the land which had been initially allocated to the debtor.
Somebody could “buy” or better lease a person’s farmland, and the price was always in relationship to how many years were left before the Jubilee Year. Obviously, if there were only a few years remaining, one would not pay a large sum to use the person’s land. Leviticus 25:15-16 says:
“According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crop he shall sell to you. According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops.”
The return to a person’s farmland or his rural or suburban residence was a guarantee. Such land returned to the prior owner every fifty years.
Notice what God says about the land, in Leviticus 25:23: “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.”
It is interesting that a person or a family member could redeem his sold farmland prior to the Jubilee Year (compare Leviticus 25:24-28). On the other hand, if a man owned a house in a walled city and sold it, he or his family had a year to redeem it. After that, it was gone for good. Leviticus 25:29-30 says: “If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.”
If the house and the land on which the house was built were in the country, it was released in the Jubilee Year, as Leviticus 25:31 says: “However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.”
As mentioned, slaves and those who “sold” themselves to their creditors for incurred debts were also released in the Jubilee Year. Leviticus 25:50 says: “Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him.”
The Jubilee Year was instituted so that a person who sold himself or his land could obtain release, liberty and freedom from debt and servitude, and return to the land. This institution prevented the few from accumulating all the wealth and the poor from being perpetually poor or in never-ending slavery, due to mismanagement or bad circumstances in their lives. Out of love and mercy, and in recognition of man’s human nature and Satan’s rulership over this world, God provided a way to equalize the playing field to give every one a fresh start and hopefully, to allow those who might have acted foolishly, to become somewhat wiser and not make again the same financial mistakes.
We should also note that every seventh year was a land Sabbath, during which no crops were to be sown and harvested, and that the land was also to rest from cultivation on the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:11).
In a Plain Truth article from February, 1986, titled, “The Debt Bomb–When Will It Explode?”, the following was stated about the Jubilee Year:
“[In ancient Israel, God had provided for] the canceling of short-term debts at the end of every seven years (Deut. 15:1-11) and the return of forfeited real estate every 50 years (Lev. 25:8-17). For example, if through hard times one had to borrow a small sum of money and, through unforeseen circumstances, was unable to repay the sum within the time frame of a seven-year cycle, his debt was to be forgiven him by his creditor. Or if an Israelite mismanaged his family property (farmland and rural or suburban residence), on the jubilee year his property was to be returned to him or his family (Lev. 25:8-10) if relatives had not already been able to redeem the land (see verse 25)…
“God’s jubilee offers humans what they have needed–and what no man-devised system of economics has ever been able to give us–a financial clean slate: the chance men have only dreamed of, to begin anew and learn from past mistakes. The jubilee year will be a cornerstone in the reestablishment of God’s government on earth (Luke 4:16-19). The ‘acceptable year of the Lord’ that Jesus quoted out of Isaiah 61 is the restoration of the jubilee year.”
We find an interesting prophecy, pertaining to the Millennium, when Jesus Christ rules on this earth, in Ezekiel 46:16-18: “Thus says the Lord God: ‘If the prince gives a gift of some of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. But if he gives a gift of some of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty (compare Leviticus 25:10), after which it shall return to the prince. But his inheritance shall belong to his sons; it shall become theirs. Moreover the prince shall not take any of the people’s inheritance by evicting them from their property; he shall provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people may be scattered from his property.'”
This Scripture addresses issues that will arise in the future and does seem to be an application of the Jubilee Year. The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary explains:
“The prince’s possession is to be inalienable, and any portion given to a servant is to revert to his sons at the year of jubilee, that he may have no temptation to spoil his people of their inheritance… The mention of the year of jubilee implies that there is something literal meant, besides the spiritual sense. The jubilee year was restored after the captivity [Josephus, Antiquities, 14.10, 6; 1 Maccabees 6:49]. Perhaps it will be restored under Messiah’s coming reign.”
As stated above, we also read that Christ quoted in Luke 4:17-19 from a passage in the book of Isaiah, dealing with the proclamation of liberty and the “acceptable year of the LORD.” Many feel that this is also a reference to the Jubilee Year. For instance, the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary states that the phrase “acceptable year” is “an allusion to the jubilee year… a year of universal release for person and property.” Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible agrees, stating: “There is, perhaps, here, an allusion to the year of jubilee – the fiftieth year, when the trumpet was blown, and through the whole land proclamation was made of the liberty of Hebrew slaves, of the remission of debts, and of the restoration of possessions to their original families.”
When Christ came and proclaimed the “acceptable year of the LORD,” He made it clear that it was now possible for His disciples to obtain spiritual freedom from Satan’s slavery and release from the captivity of their debts, which they incurred because of sin; i.e., death (Romans 6:23).
At the same time, based on the foregoing, it appears that the Jubilee Year will be enforced quite literally at the beginning of the Millennium. It appears that at that time, release from physical debt and slavery will be proclaimed in all the land, and the individual nations will be restored to their God-ordained lands (compare Acts 17:26). However, it appears unlikely that the aspect of the Jubilee Year will be upheld in the Millennium, which would refer to [renewed] slavery, including slavery because of debt. (However, as expressed in Ezekiel 46:16-18 (quoted above), other aspects of the Jubilee Year will apparently be in force.) Notice what we wrote in a related Q&A on slavery:
“As to the primary reason for slavery–capture in war–this concept won’t exist anymore in the Millennium as there will be no more wars in the Millennium (Isaiah 2:1-4). Also, since all will live in prosperity and there will be no more poverty, that reason for slavery won’t exist anymore, either (Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 3:10). Finally, ‘slavery’ for punishment of crime or debt in the Millennium might likewise be non-existent, as people might not be allowed to actually carry out crimes or go into debt, necessitating that kind of punishment or treatment (compare Isaiah 30:20-21). We should also mention that it was never God’s original intent that men should be poor in the first place (Deuteronomy 15:1-6). Nor was it God’s original intent that men should go to war… God had never intended that slavery should exist at all… Paul also prohibited Christians from becoming voluntarily slaves of men… Based on the foregoing, we feel that it is highly unlikely that there will exist any slavery in the Millennium… it was never God’s intent that there should be any kind of slavery in the first place–had mankind chosen to OBEY God. It is highly unlikely that God will use men to enslave others in the Millennium.”
Man will be taught how to live responsibly, and God will bless man with prosperity and peace. What a tremendous time that will be!
Lead Writers: Rene Messier and Norbert Link
On June 5, 2010, Robb Harris will give the sermon titled, respectively, “Frame of Mind.”
The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.
A new StandingWatch program was posted on the Web, titled, “The Lies About Europe.” Will the euro fail? Will the euro zone collapse? Will the EU fall apart? The answer to all of these questions is, No! How can we be so sure? Listen to this program, and you will know!
A German version of the StandingWatch (AufPostenStehen) program, titled, “Luegen ueber Europa,” was posted on YouTube and our German Website.
Norbert Link’s video-taped sermon, “Pentecost 2010,” has been posted on the Web.
Norbert Link’s video-recorded sermon, “To the Ephesians, Part 2,” has been posted on the Web.
Norbert Link’s new German sermon, “Das Evangelium und Sie, Teil 2,” (“The Gospel and You, Part 2”), has been posted on the Web.
by Phyllis Bourque
I find it interesting that many of the subjects covered in the StandingWatch programs apply in my personal life, realizing that I am essentially subjected to the issues of this world, yet not without God’s involvement. Two recent issues that I had to face were unemployment and excessive health care costs.
Earlier this year, I lost my job. In fact, the whole transcription department of 16 people was done away with, in favor of outsourcing. My first reaction was that I would finally be able to retire! A very generous severance package would have easily bridged me over to retirement in September. I began to think of all the things I wanted to catch up on when I retired and was feeling pretty good about it… UNTIL I looked at the cost of health care. My dream of retirement was quickly overshadowed by the very steep cost of health insurance, as well as the insecurity of the Social Security system itself.
God was clearly involved, however, even before I learned I had lost my job. Within two weeks of the initial announcement, four people were rehired, but in a different capacity. This has since been reduced to three, and I am one of them. The new position, Transcription Quality Auditor, involves checking the reports transcribed by the outsource company for accuracy, along with assuring the proper work flow between the various software programs used by the hospital. I am working fewer hours but my hourly wage is higher. I still have health insurance benefits, and I still have the privilege of working from home. I know that job security, like Social Security, is weak at best, but for now, I do have a job.
I could see again that God knows what is best for me, even before I do, and that He is the only real security for me in this life, for which I am very grateful.
The first time that the Bible mentions “Urim and Thummim” is in Exodus 28:30, in connection with the garments for the high priest; especially, the “ephod” and the “breastplate of judgment.” The breastplate was to be placed on the ephod (Exodus 28:28), and verse 30 reads: “And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD.” A similar statement can be found in Leviticus 8:8.
In Numbers 27:21, only the Urim is mentioned [but it has been understood that it included the Thummim as well–“Urim” is used here as a summary term for both]. On this occasion, God asked Moses to transfer some of his authority to Joshua. Verse 21 reads: “He [Joshua] shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the LORD for him by the judgment of the Urim–at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in…”
When the high priest was to inquire for the civil leader of God’s people, he was to be dressed in his official garments, containing the Urim and the Thummim.
In Deuteronomy 33:8, the Urim and the Thummim are mentioned in reverse order [showing that both were equally important], relating to the blessing with which “Moses, the man of God,” blessed Levi: “And of Levi he said: ‘Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one [Lit., Your pious man]…'” In other words, God decreed that the Urim and the Thummim should be with the Levites; in particular, based on Exodus 28:30 and Numbers 27:21, with the high priest who had to be from the tribe of Levi.
In 1 Samuel 28:6, only the Urim is mentioned [but by implication, it included the Thummim]: “And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.” We see here that somewhat of a distinction is made between dreams and prophets, and the Urim. At the same time, some kind of prophetic revelation was involved when using the Urim and the Thummim–but it occurred through the high priest, not through dreams or prophets.
We find another direct reference to both the Urim and the Thummim in the book of Ezra, describing the time after the destruction of the first temple and before the erection and completion of the second temple. The names of several of the Jews who had returned from Babylon were not found in the registry of priests, and we read in Ezra 2:62-63:
“These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled. And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till a priest could consult with the Urim and Thummim.” We find a repetition of this passage in Nehemiah 7:64-65. These passages might imply that at that time, no priest was able to reveal God’s Will through the Urim and the Thummim.
We might also note that the Septuagint refers to the Urim and the Thummim in its translation of 1 Samuel 14:41: “Then Saul said, ‘O Lord, God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If the guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O Lord, God of Israel, give Urim; and if you indicate that it is in the people of Israel, give Thummim.’ And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped.”
However, this text is highly suspect. The New King James Bible, which is based on the Masoretic Text, simply states: “Therefore Saul said to the LORD God of Israel, ‘Give a perfect lot.’ So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped.”
On the other hand, there IS general agreement that the previous inquiry of God (compare verses 36-37) through the high priest Ahijah, who was wearing the ephod (compare verse 3), did occur with the help of the Urim and the Thummim. Considering the close connection between the high priest’s ephod and the Urim and Thummim, it is reasonable to conclude that Saul’s inquiry involved the use of the Urim and the Thummim. But apparently, verse 41 does not refer to such kind of inquiry, but strictly and only to the casting of lots, as God had not answered Saul before through the Urim and the Thummim.
Another indirect reference to the Urim and the Thummim can be found in 1 Samuel 23:6, 9-12, when David inquired of the LORD after the high priest Abiathar arrived with the ephod (verse 6). David specifically asked for the ephod to be brought to him (verse 9).
A similar episode is described in 1 Samuel 30:7-8. In this case, the inquiry resulted not only in a specific answer to a specific question, but in additional statements from the LORD, showing that the use of the Urim and the Thummim might have involved more than (just) the casting of lots.
It is true, however, that most believe that the Urim and Thummim was a “lot” oracle, but this concept is not without problems, as we have seen. Realizing the uncertainties, the Good News Bible includes the following annotation to the description of the Urim and the Thummim: “Two objects used by the priest to determine God’s will; it is not known precisely how they are used.”
We are not told in Scripture what, exactly, the Urim and Thummim were, nor how they were used, but we are told that they were in existence at the time of Moses; that they were known at the time of Saul and apparently David; and that they were referred to in some way at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Since the Bible does not describe the nature of the Urim and the Thummim, nor their physical appearance, there have been many speculative attempts to visualize and identify them.
Flavius Josephus seemed to describe the Urim and the Thummim as the twelve stones or gems of the breastplate on the ephod of the high priest (arranged in rows and engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel), and possibly also with two sardonyx stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, saying that light flashed from them to show the presence of God. He also wrote that when the light ceased flashing, God showed His displeasure.
Another Jewish tradition has it that when one stone on the breastplate did not shine, while the others were, this phenomenon identified the guilty tribe.
When attempts are made to translate the terms “Urim” and “Thummim,” the most common renditions are “revelation and truth,” “manifestations and truth,” and “lights and perfections.” The Jerusalem Talmud writes: “Urim… illuminated Israel and Thummim… perfected the way before them.” Luther referred to them as “light and fullness,” or “light and justice.”
There is no consensus as to when God ceased to reveal His Will through the Urim and the Thummim. Josephus stated that their cessation took place about 105 B.C. The Mishna stated that the cessation took place when the first prophets died. Some refer to the first prophets as David, Samuel and Solomon, others as all the prophets except Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, saying that the cessation took place when the first temple was destroyed. Others stated that the cessation took place when the second temple was destroyed, in 70 A.D. However, many commentaries state that the Urim and Thummim were missing in the second temple.
In John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, the following comments are made regarding Haggai 2:9:
“The Jews… themselves [say] there were several things wanting in the latter [temple] which were in the former [temple], as the ‘ark’, the ‘Urim’ and ‘Thummim’, the ‘fire’ from heaven, the ‘Shechinah’ (or, as in some books, the anointing oil, and, in others, the cherubim), and the ‘Holy Ghost’: by one of their writers…, they are reckoned in this order, the ark, the mercy seat, and cherubim, one; the Shechinah or divine Majesty, the second; the Holy Ghost, which is prophecy, the third; Urim and Thummim the fourth: and the fire from heaven the fifth…”
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible adds:
“Those five things, the absence whereof they felt, were connected with their atoning worhip or God’s presence among them; ‘the ark with the mercy-seat and the cherubim, the Urim and Tummin, the fire from heaven, the Shechinah, the Holy Spirit.'”
Similarily Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible:
“…the Jews [say] that several of the divine glories of the first temple were wanting in this [second temple] – the ark, the urim and thummim, the fire from heaven, and the Schechinah…”
The connection between the Urim and the Thummim and the existence of the temple, and their cessation with the destruction of the (first or second) temple, could be meaningful.
In his remarkable work, “The Urim and Thummim,” Cornelis van Dam informs us on page 101 that “in medieval Judaism the messianic expectation was great. The [Urim and Thummim] were not forgotten in this context. It is noteworthy that they formed part of the vision for the restored temple, and the implication was that the [Urim and Thummim] would once again function… among Protestants it was often stressed (not only in the sixteenth but also in the seventeenth century) that the [Urim and Thummim] pointed at the Messiah.”
As there are currently attempts underway to prepare for the construction of the third temple and the beginning of sacrifices in Jerusalem prior to the coming of the Messiah, it will be interesting to see whether at the same time the Jews will also initiate the use of the Urim and the Thummim through a high priest from the tribe of Levi.
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
