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What Kind of Gemstones Are the Urim and Thummim?

The Urim and Thummim are the subject of debate among religious scholars. They are referenced in the Book of Samuel in the Bible as crucial to the process of divination, but it is not clear whether they are the process itself, stones used in the process for casting lots, called cleromancy, or gemstones specially made for communicating with divinity. The different versions of the Bible also confuse the issue. In the Latter Day Saints tradition, however, the Urim and Thummim were invoked by Joseph Smith as stones to translate divine messages.

Hebrew Biblical References
- References to the Urim and Thummim are from the Hebrew Bible, the Bible that was written in ancient Hebrew. The Hebrew Bible refers to the Urim and Thummim in several contexts. One refers to Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first high priest of the Israelites. Aaron carried the the Urim and Thummim in the breast plate that was worn during religious ceremonies, and they were used to cast judgements. In the Book of Samuel, the high priest makes judgment to discover a sinner using Urim and Thummim. The Book of Exodus suggests that Urim and Thummim are put into the breast plate of the high priest.
Use
- The Urim and Thummim were involved in decisions that needed to be made by the high priest of the Israelites. The Book of Exodus suggests they were involved in simple yes and no questions; one stone indicating yes, the other, no. Both stones were put in a pouch within the breastplate worn by the priest, and the answer to a question the high priest asked of God was revealed depending on which stone was taken out of the pouch.
Controversy
- There are several controversies surrounding the Urim and Thummim. Scholars debate whether the Urim and Thummim were a process of divination or the objects used in the divination. Because the words are used in the plural in the Hebrew, they may refer to processes rather than a specific pair of objects. But in the Book of Samuel they are used in conjunction with the phrase "inquired of God," which implies an object. Another controversy within the argument that they were objects is what kind of objects they were. Cleromancy, divination by lot, uses stones or bones. They may have been flat stones to fit below the breast plate of the high priest.
Latter Day Saints
- Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints movement, reintroduced the Urim and Thummim. He claimed that the angel Marconi gave him the Urim and Thummim to use to read the golden plates that held words of God. The Urim and Thummim looked like three-pointed diamonds and were attached to a breastplate.

Gemology