Thou shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim
and the Thummim. --Ex. xxviii.
30.
And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered
him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by
prophets. --1 Sam.
xxviii. 6.
Note: Professor Plumptre supposes the Urim to have been a
clear and colorless stone set in the breastplate of the
high priest as a symbol of light, answering to the
mystic scarab in the pectoral plate of the ancient
Egyptian priests, and that the Thummim was an image
corresponding to that worn by the priestly judges of
Egypt as a symbol of truth and purity of motive. By
gazing steadfastly on these, he may have been thrown
into a mysterious, half ecstatic state, akin to
hypnotism, in which he lost all personal consciousness,
and received a spiritual illumination and insight.