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Ezra 2 · a question people ask

What were the Urim and Thummim?

In the text

The Bible doesn't say what they were. 2:63 names them without explaining: the priests who were not found in the register "should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to serve with Urim and with Thummim" (2:63). In the law they go in Aaron's breastplate: "You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the LORD" (Exodus 28:30). Eleazar the priest was to "inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD" (Numbers 27:21). Exodus 28's word study has more on the two words. Ezra doesn't say whether a priest with Urim and Thummim ever stood up, and Nehemiah 7:65 gives the governor's words again without saying either.

The verses

“These sought their place among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore they were deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood. The governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to serve with Urim and with Thummim.”
Ezra 2:62-63 · World English Bible
“You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before the LORD continually.”
Exodus 28:30 · World English Bible
“He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.””
Numbers 27:21 · World English Bible
“The governor told them not to eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to minister with Urim and Thummim.”
Nehemiah 7:65 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ezra 2

Ezra 2: Everyone to his city

Ezra 2 is more than a list: it names the returning people family by family and town by town, "everyone to his city" (2:1), still counts those who "could not show their fathers’ houses" (2:59), and ends with gifts "according to their ability" (2:69) for the LORD's house before it was rebuilt; Nehemiah 7 gives the list again, with the same total and some different details.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions