Back when I was a young Christian and had everything figured out (cough, cough), the first and last thought on my mind every day was "how can I hear the voice of God?"
I went down a rabbit hole, studying anything on the voice of God I could lay my hands on.
And on one fateful day while reading 1 & 2 Samuel, I kept seeing references to Saul and David repeatedly inquiring of the Lord.
So I decided to dig deeper.
It's only then that I noticed that, actually, these guys had a peculiar way of hearing from God using the Urim and Thummim.
The Urim and Thummim, traditionally translated ‘Lights’ and ‘Perfections,’ were objects placed inside the priest’s breastpiece.
Through them, the priest could inquire of the Lord on Israel’s behalf.
How they worked is not clear but one ancient Jewish tradition held that parts of the breastpiece illuminated to communicate God’s answer to an inquiry.
Others believe they functioned as sacred lots, with the priest drawing or casting them to receive an answer.
The Priest
The Urim and Thummim weren't something every Israelite could carry around and consult whenever they had a difficult decision.
They were entrusted to the priesthood, specifically associated with the high priest, who carried them inside the breastpiece of judgment over his heart when he went before the Lord (Exodus 28:30).
That breastpiece was attached to the ephod and carried twelve precious stones, one for each tribe of Israel. So when the priest stood before God, symbolically, he wasn't standing there merely as an individual.
He carried Israel with him. And when the nation needed God's direction on certain matters, the priest could inquire of the Lord on their behalf.
This made the priest far more than the guy performing sacrifices at the altar.
He stood between God and Israel, offering sacrifices, teaching God's law, and, at certain moments, seeking God's judgment for the nation.
And this is what makes the Urim and Thummim so fascinating: for a period in Israel's history, you could literally go to the priest and inquire of God.
Joshua
Joshua gives us one of the clearest pictures of how the Urim was supposed to function.
God appointed Joshua to lead Israel, and one of the ways he could seek God’s judgment was through Eleazar the priest and the Urim.
He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the LORD for him by the judgment of the Urim.
- Numbers 27:21
So imagine the arrangement: Joshua was leading an entire nation, making decisions about wars, journeys and the future of Israel, yet there were moments when the answer did not come from military strategy or a council meeting.
He went to the priest, the priest inquired before God, and Israel moved according to God's answer.
There’s a moment after Israel’s defeat at Ai.
Joshua sought God, and God exposed that someone in Israel had taken what was forbidden from Jericho.
The people were then brought forward tribe by tribe, household by household, until Achan was identified.
The Urim and Thummim were never presented as some magical objects with power of their own. They were simply one of the means God used to speak to his people.
Saul
By the time we get to Saul, we begin seeing the darker side of the story. Saul repeatedly wanted direction from God, especially when his enemies were closing in.
But something had changed.
The same God who could answer through the Urim could also simply keep silent.
And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.
- 1 Samuel 28:6
There was no predictable pattern. God spoke as he willed. He could not be forced.
But also, 1 Samuel 28:6 gives us hints on some of the ways God spoke with his people at the time:
Dreams
Prophets
Urim
...and Saul, at this particular moment, had not received an answer through any of them. So he turned to the medium of Endor.
A man once anointed king by God, out of desperation, went seeking guidance from a medium.
Saul had fallen far.
David
And David is in many ways the opposite of Saul.
Saul was instructed to wait seven days for Samuel to join him and offer a sacrifice to the Lord. But when he saw that his men were beginning to leave, he felt pressured and offered the sacrifice himself, completely disregarding Samuel’s instruction.
And ironically, Samuel arrived immediately after Saul had finished.
David, on the other hand, inquired of the Lord before making major decisions.
And several of those moments involve Abiathar the priest bringing David the ephod.
Recall the Urim and Thummim were kept inside the priestly breastpiece, which was attached to the ephod.
Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, ‘Please bring the ephod here to me.'
- 1 Samuel 30:7
Immediately afterward, David asked God whether he should pursue the Amalekites who had raided Ziklag.
God answered him: pursue them.
And there’s a pattern here: many of David’s questions were framed for a direct YES or NO answer.
For example:
Shall I go and attack these Philistines?
- 1 Samuel 23:2
Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard?
- 1 Samuel 23:11
Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?
- 1 Samuel 23:12
Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?
- 1 Samuel 30:8
Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?
- 2 Samuel 2:1
Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?
- 2 Samuel 5:19
Again and again, before he went to battle or made a major decision, David inquired of the Lord.
Do We Need the Urim and Thummim Today?
By the post-exilic period, the Urim and Thummim appear to have fallen out of use. These were the times of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The Urim and Thummim were never God’s only means of communicating. Throughout Israel’s history, God also spoke through dreams, visions, angels and prophets.
Today, Christians have something Israel under the old covenant did not have in the same way: the indwelling Holy Spirit.
We don't need a priest carrying the Urim and Thummim to inquire of God on our behalf. The Spirit of God lives within us, leading, convicting and directing us as we walk with Him.
That doesn't mean every thought or gut feeling is God speaking. Our impressions are fallible and should always be tested against Scripture.
We don't need to travel to some holy place to find a priest carrying sacred objects before we can seek God. God is in us. He can speak anytime and anywhere.
And often, the question isn't simply whether God can speak.
It's whether we're tuned in to hear when He does.
