Sermon Outline 2.15.08 - Parshat Tetzaveh: Ummim and Thurmim – The De-evolution of Divination

Parshat Tetzaveh Sermon Outline
2.15.08
Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe
Topic: Ummim and Thurmim – The De-evolution of Divination

1. Attempts to read all of Torah usually stop at Exodus 20
a. Genesis all narrative – Exodus 1st half – to chap 20.
b. 2nd half – laws of tabernacle and priestly duties
c. Few people know that almost all of 40 yrs of wandering in one Torah portion.

2. This is why you will start to here more “topic” sermons in coming weeks
a. Hard to talk about cultic logistics.
b. Blood here, not there; eat this, don’t eat that, etc.
c. I am intrigued by the strange and odd.
d. Tetzaveh – Priestly wardrobe

3. Urim and Tummim – A mystery in substance and usage

Exodus 28:30 Inside the breastpiece of decision you shall place the Urim and Tummim, so that they are over Aaron's heart when he comes before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall carry the instrument of decision for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD at all times.

a. What are these things? Traditional commentators disgree – maybe they have the unspeakable name of God on them. Or they are symbols for Israel’s qualities.
b. Biblical historian Richard Elliot Friedman comments:

We have pondered for centuries what [the urim and thumim] are. They have something to do with inquiring of God for an answer to a question. They may contain letters that can spell out long answers (a la an ancient ouiji board), or they may provide only a yes or a no (a biblical magic 8 ball). They are mentioned four times in the Torah, and then never again in Israel’s history until the time of the 2nd temple, when Ezra and Nehemiah note that the Urim and Tummim are no longer available.

We must admit it: we just don’t know what they are. What is important is that several different biblical sources indicate that there was a belief that it was possible to ask questions of God and get an answer, and that this was done through a priest, not a prophet. It was a mechanism other than prophecy to learn the will of God.

c. So we have here an early biblical account of tarot card or reading tea leaves, or the first edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s stone. Weird stuff.


4. The issue is divination.

a. Ancient religion’s main focus, beyond where we came from, is what will happen to us. Specifically, what does God have in store for us?

b. Example: Greek oracle at Delphi

c. In pagan tradition, oracles always come true. Once the oracle says that Oedipus will kill his father and seduce his mother, these are both inevitable

d. Ancient religions mix ritual and ceremony to deduce the will of the divine and to sway favor towards the individual.
e. Divination often meant communication with the dead, as they now has access to divine information

5. The Torah is Abhors Divination

a. The Torah is well aware of the practice of divination and abhors it.

b. As Biblical scholar Mary Douglas writes,

“When access to both demons and spirits of the dead is forbidden, divination, as a technique for consulting the head or other spiritual beings, becomes impossible. Except the oracle of the high priest, all forms of divination were banned.” (Lev as Lit, p.4)

c. Aha! Now we see why these divination devices are housed in priestly clothing

d. Only priest has access. Divination is under the jurisidiction of the Levitical priesthood and therefore cannot present a threat.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 10 Let no one be found among you who consigns his son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, 11 one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead. 12 For anyone who does such things is abhorrent to the LORD, and it is because of these abhorrent things that the LORD your God is dispossessing them before you.

f. Therefore, the Urim and Thumim are cultic symbols, incorporated into the mainstream religion and thus devoid of their possibly competing powers.

g. Like Christianity’s adoption of formerly pagan rituals such as the sun God’s birthday near the winter solstice to Christmas, or Spring rituals of renewal into Easter.

h. Judaism has plenty of these: Lulav and Etrog are adopted pagan raindance symbols, now brought into the mainstream fold.

6. Leviticus moves past Urim and Tummim
a. In one month, we finish Exodus and begin Leviticus

b. Leviticus moves past Urim and Tumim and replaces divination altogether with the theory of contamination and sacrifice.

c. Old system: Things are bad for you because God is upset. You need divination to find out why. Then sacrifice allows you to win back God’s favor.

Douglas: Divination is the institution that usually links sin, misfortune, and sacrifice. There is some misfortune, the oracle finds the causes and prescribes the remedy – a sacrifice. (110)

d. New system: You are contaminated (KEY WORD! Valueless. God isn’t upset or happy with you). You must adhere to the prescribed sacrificial rite to solve your problem.

e. Since Leviticus has already prescribed the illnesses and remedies, divination is no longer necessary.

f. Thus Judaism makes a fundamental step away from ancestor worship, demonology, and yes…divination.

g. So what we see in this week’s Torah portion is similar to a fossil of an animal between steps of evolution. It is a remnant of our pagan past, incorporated into the priesthood and thus neutralized. In time, as the levitical practice emerged, it was no longer needed. For now, the crutch remains.

h. Thus when Ezra and Nehemiah return from Babylonian exile at the end of the 6th century BCE, the Urim and Thummim are no longer necessary. The bureaucracy has expanded to encompass the questions they once sought to answer.

6. What this means to us:

a. Judaism is in a constant state of evolution and reform, even within the Torah.

b. Judaism is anti-superstition and is concerned with the living. The dead have no power.

c. When calamity falls upon us, the victim is not to blame. They have not angered the deities. They do not suffer from sin. We treat the problem, not the individual.

This is the ultimate gift of the temple rite. A view of the world with judgment-free actions, where we shrug our shoulders, stay “stuff happens”, and move on with our lives. In this way, I guess this section of Torah is not so bizarre or far from our lives after all.

Shabbat Shalom