The Scrying Game

There is much about Scripture that I don’t fully understand—mostly in the Old Testament. The other day I was reading through Exodus (Moses is my favorite OT character) and halted briefly to consider "the Urim and the Thummim" in this passage:

So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD. And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD regularly. (Exodus 28:29-30 ESV)

I would guess that most Christians are taught that the Urim and the Thummim are two stones used in the Old Testament by the high priest to somehow divine God’s will. Many a hypothesis has been made about them, from the scholarly (check out this Jewish Encyclopedia article) to the downright absurd (magical crystal-like objects through which Man communicates with his alien gods). And then there is the Mormon scrying connection: “With the records was found a curious instrument which the ancients called ‘Urim and Thummim,’ which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rims of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.” (Joseph Smith*, in a letter to John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat newspaper in 1842; incidentally, Mormons teach that God’s place of residence "is a great Urim and Thummim," per Doctrine and Covenants 130:8.)
*Sometime in the early 1820s, Joseph was introduced to seer-stones, a common scrying device in western New York, and he quickly developed a reputation as a talented seer and was known to peer into his stone to direct fellow treasure-seekers in their hunts…more at Mormon Matters

These stones are mentioned in Scripture a total of 6 times (the others are Leviticus 8:8, Deuteronomy 33:8, 1 Samuel 14:41, Ezra 2:63, Nehemiah 7:65). This got me to thinking of why such a mystical means of communication with God was even necessary—after all, God spoke directly to Moses (as a friend, Exodus 33:11), right? And God had angels and prophets (and even a talking donkey) through which to communicate…

The art of scrying, divination through a medium using objects such as stones (or a Ouija board), seems to me to be just too supernatural, too far-fetched—but, then, so are angels (from the standpoint of human reason). I do not for one minute doubt that God could use any means of communication He wants (i.e. burning bush), but the Old Testament use of the Urim and the Thummim somehow troubles me (in nearly the same way as God’s intention to kill Moses for disobedience in Exodus 4:24).

The point?  What I cannot understand in God’s Word, I accept on faith.  And it seems to me that God intentionally paved the road from Creation to the Cross with characters (i.e. Melchizedek, Genesis 14), incidents (i.e. the Witch of Endor’s conjuring of Samuel for Saul, 1 Samuel), objects (i.e. the Urim and the Thummim), and concepts (i.e. that Christ will die on the Cross so that I may be forgiven and rise again so that I may have eternal life—this is the granddaddy of ‘em all, no rational human mind can truly accept this) in order that we MUST take HIM in all THREE PERSONS purely on faith, which is all He really wants from us in the first place. Theories abound, but anyone who says they have all the answers is a false prophet.  Maybe that is the point…

By God’s Grace alone... Through Faith alone… In Christ alone.  Wow.

Guess I can ask about the Urim and the Thummim, among other things (like how Evil got into the Garden in the first place), when I finish my mission in this life; however, by then, I don’t think it will really matter…

That’s it until next month…

Peace by with you,

Pastor E.B.