“They That Did the King’s Business Helped the Jews”
WORDS fromthe WORD by Charles L. Feinberg, Th.D., Ph.D., Director, Talbot Theological Seminary
“ And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews.” Esther 9:3. If ever in their history the Jews needed your help, they need it now. Israel is facing Armageddon. In her own strength she has raised up her standard and is once more a national entity. But Zionism is a political and not a religious movement. The tides of Jew-hate and anti- Semitism are rising like a flood. There is a resurgence of it in Germany; reports from behind the Iron Curtain are no better. Even in these Unit ed States the mails are satur ated with venomous poison against the Jews. Can we shut up our bowels of mercy to this suffering peo ple? The heathen of Hainan’s day helped the Jews in their hour of distress. Can we do less? There is no better way to help the Jews than to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah. Our world-wide testimony to Israel is worthy of your faithful prayers and sympathy. THE CHOSEN PEOPLE, be loved by Bible students for its helpful information on proph ecy and the Jews is sent to all contributors. AM ER ICAN BOARD OF M IS S IO N S -------- TO THE JEWS, Inc. I 1 | 236 West 72nd Street, Dept. 8 I New York 23, N.Y. I I Canadian Office: 39 King William St., Hamilton, Ont., Canada . I I do want to help the Jews. Here is $... ..... I I Use it as God directs, to make known the i saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ to 1 Israel. | Name................................................. | | Address........... I I City.................. Zone...... State.......... i
Urim and Thummim
on his breast, and which were insert ed into his breastplate, when they should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from them before the army began to march, that all the people were sen sible of God’s being present for their assistance. . . . Now this breastplate, and this sardonyx, left off shining 200 years before I composed this book, God having been displeased at the transgressions of his laws.” Apart from the obvious chronological error, flashings of light on the letters en graven on the gems of the breastplate cannot explain the usage. This would require that all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet be inscribed on the gems, and there is no proof of this. This explanation manifests the in fluence of the alleged miracles of the Greek and Roman priests of later times and is not in keeping with Hebrew ritual. Another view, not widely held, assumes that the Urim and Thummim served only as symbols, and that the answer was an inward illumination, akin to the revelations later granted to the prophets of Israel. The most generally held position today is that the Urim and Thummim were lots, perhaps flat stones, white for an affirmative answer and black for a negative. See 1 Samuel 14:37-42. However, answers credited to the Urim and Thummim were not al ways affirmative or negative. Com pare Judges 1:1,2; 20:18; 1 Samuel 22:10. Actually, the Scriptures give no directions for their construction. Analogies with customs of divination in Assyria (the “ Tablets of Destiny” ) and in Egypt (the breastplate of the Egyptian high priest worn during legal trials) are guesses and founded on superficial similarities. Blessed indeed is the portion of the believer today who has the indwell ing Spirit (John 16:13) to disclose the will of God in every aspect of life.
Recording to 1 Samuel 28:6 there were three main channels for con veying the divine will to Israel, of which the Urim and Thummim were one. The words, often taken as in tensive plurals, p r o b a b l y mean “ Light and Perfection,” although students of the Scriptures have not succeeded in giving a satisfactory meaning to the words. The Hebrew words begin with the first and last letters of the alphabet respectively. There are seven references to the Urim and Thummim in the Old Testa ment: Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 33:8; 1 Samuel 28:6; Ezra 2:63; and Nehe- miah 7:65. They were objects con nected with the high priest’s ephod in the breastplate of judgment near his heart. They were employed by him to learn the will of God in mat ters not touched upon in the law. They were not used to ascertain the will of God in private matters, but only for the nation. They could be consulted in any place, provided the priest with the ephod was at hand. The answer was usually simple, an affirmation or denial (1 Sam. 10:22; 2 Sam. 5:23, 24). ’When sin broke fellowship with God, no answer was given (1 Sam. 14:37; 28:6). This method could be rightly used by the high priest alone (Deut. 33:8). No mention is made of the Urim and Thummim after the reign of David. During the restoration from Babylo nian Captivity there was no priest with Urim and Thummim (Ezra 2: 63; Neh. 7:65). Students of Scripture differ as to the nature of the Urim and Thum mim. One view holds that when the divine will was made known, there was a special brilliance to the gems in the breastplate. This is the position of the Talmud and Josephus. The latter ( Antiquities, III, viii, 9) stated: “ God declared beforehand by those 12 stones which the high priest bare
Every way o f a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts. — Prov. 2 1 : 2
The King's Business/Mcry 1958
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