The Secret Teachings of All Ages · 154 of 236

The Urim and Thummim

In the reverse side of the Essen, or breastplate, was a pocket containing mysterious objects—the Urim and Thummim. Aside from the fact that they were used in divination, little is now known about these objects. Some writers contend that they were small stones (resembling the fetishes still revered by certain aboriginal peoples) which the Israelites had brought with them out of Egypt because of their belief that they possessed divine power. Others believe that the Urim and Thummim were in the form of dice, used for deciding events by being cast upon the ground. A few have maintained that they were merely sacred names, written on plates of gold and carried as talismans. “According to some, the Urim and the Thummim signify ‘lights and perfections,’ or ‘light and truth’ which last present a striking analogy to the. two figures of Re (Ra) and Themi in the breastplate worn by the Egyptians.” (Gardner’s The Faiths of the World.)

Insight

The Urim and Thummim — literally ‘lights and perfections’ in Hebrew — were the divinatory objects placed in the breastplate (Exodus 28:30) and used by the High Priest to inquire of God on matters of national importance. The biblical text is reticent about how they actually worked; the rabbinic tradition guessed they functioned by causing letters on the breastplate stones to light up in sequence. They drop out of the historical record after the early monarchic period; by the time of the Second Temple they are remembered but no longer in use. The Mormon tradition reactivated the names for Joseph Smith’s seer stones in the 1820s. Hall’s interest in them is the typical occult one: an authentic ancient instrument of supernatural inquiry, the technology of which the modern world has lost.

Not the least remarkable of the vestments of the High Priest was his bonnet, or headdress. Over the plain white cap of the ordinary priest this dignitary wore an outer cloth of blue and a crown of gold, the crown consisting of three bands, one above the other like the triple miter of the Persian Magi. This crown symbolized that the High Priest was ruler not only over the three worlds which the ancients had differentiated (heaven, earth, and hell), but also over the threefold divisions of man and the universe—the spiritual, intellectual, and material worlds. These divisions were also symbolized by the three apartments of the Tabernacle itself.

At the peak of the headdress was a tiny cup of gold, made in the form of a flower. This signified that the nature of the priest was receptive and that he had a vessel in his own soul which, cuplike, was capable of catching the eternal waters of life pouring upon him from the heavens above. This flower over the crown of his head is similar in its esoteric meaning to the rose growing out of a skull, so famous in Templar symbology. The ancients believed that the spiritual nature escaping from the body passed upward through the crown of the head; therefore, the flowerlike calyx, or cup, symbolized also the spiritual consciousness. On the front of the golden crown were inscribed in Hebrew, Holiness unto the Lord.

Though robes and ornaments augmented the respect and veneration of the Israelites for their High Priest, such trappings meant nothing to Jehovah. Therefore, before entering the Holy of Holies, the High Priest removed his earthly finery and entered into the presence of the Lord God of Israel unclothed. There he could be robed only in his own virtues, and his spirituality must adorn him as a garment.

There is a legend to the effect that any who chanced to enter the Holy of Holies unclean were destroyed by a bolt of Divine fire from the Mercy Seat. If the High Priest had but one selfish thought, he would be struck dead. As no man knows when an unworthy thought may flash through his mind, precautions had to be taken in case the High Priest should be struck dead while in the presence of Jehovah. The other priests could not enter the sanctuary therefore, when their leader was about to go in and receive the commands of the Lord, they tied a chain around one of his feet so that if he were struck down while behind the veil they could drag the body out.

From Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke.

Over the plain white cap of the ordinary priests the High Priest wore an overcloth of blue and a band of gold. On the front of the golden band were inscribed the Hebrew words “Holiness unto the Lord.” This illustration shows the arrangement of the bonnet both with and without the golden crown.

From Calmet’s Dictionary of the Holy Bible.

Josephus tells its that the Cherubim were flying creatures but different in appearance, from anything to be seen on earth; therefore impossible to describe. Moses is supposed to have seen these beings kneeling at the footstool of God when he was picked up and brought into the Presence of Jehovah. It is probable that they resembled, at least in general appearance, the famous Cherubim of Ezekiel.