In the Latter Day Saint movement, the term Urim and Thummim () refers to a category of instruments used for receiving revelation or translating languages.Davis, W. L. (2020). Visions in a seer stone: Joseph Smith and the making of The book of mormon. The University of North Carolina Press. According to Latter Day Saint theology, the two stones found in the breastplate of Aaron in the Old Testament, the white stone referenced in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, the two stones bound by silver bows into a set of spectacles (interpreters) that movement founder Joseph Smith said he found buried in the hill Cumorah with the golden plates, and the seer stone found while digging a well used to translate the Book of Mormon are all examples of Urim and Thummim. Latter Day Saint scripture states that the place where God resides is a Urim and Thummim, and the earth itself will one day become sanctified and a Urim and Thummim, and that all adherents who are saved in the highest heaven will receive their own Urim and Thummim.
While the term is ubiquitous and well ingrained in modern Latter Day Saint theology, it was not initially applied to the spectacles or seer stone used in translating the Book of Mormon, and "Urim and Thummim" does not appear within the Book of Mormon or early versions of the Doctrine and Covenants.Skousen, R. (2010). The Book of Mormon: the earliest text. New Haven: Yale University Press. page xi It has been argued that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery adopted the term in the early 1830s as part of a larger effort to distance the church from early folk magic practices and retroactively provide a Biblical rationale for their earlier behavior.D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), pp. 43–44.Persuitte, D. (2000). Joseph Smith and the origins of The book of mormon. McFarland. e-book location 4251 of 6290
History Joseph Smith said that in 1827 he was led by an angel to dig up golden plates containing a record of ancient inhabitants of the American continent, along with "spectacles", or interpreters, that the Lord had prepared to translate the record. Smith also had in his possession a brown seer stone. He used both devices to produce the record, which is called the Book of Mormon.
The earliest source that expands the term "Urim and Thummim" outside the biblical context is a reverse association William W. Phelps made on Hosea 3:4 in July 1832, stating that the children of Israel "were even to do without the Teraphim, [Urim & Thummim, perhaps] or sacred spectacles or declarers." The first known explicit connection between the spectacles and the term "Urim and Thummim" occurred in 1832.Missionaries Orson Hyde and Samuel H. Smith were interviewed by a newspaper the Boston Investigator in August 1832: "Q.-In what manner was the interpretation, or translation made known, and by whom was it written? A.-It was made known by the spirit of the Lord through the medium of the Urim and Thummim; and was written partly by Oliver Cowdery, and partly by Martin Harris. Q.-What do you mean by Urim and Thummim? A.-The same as were used by the prophets of old, which were two crystal stones, placed in bows something in the form of spectacles, which were found with the plates.". Brown, S. M. (2012). In Heaven as it is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the early Mormon conquest of death. New York: Oxford University Press. page 327 Prior to this, and even frequently afterwards, they were always referred to as "spectacles" or "interpreters".
By 1833, Joseph Smith and his associates began referring to the Smith's seer stone as well as the interpreters with the Biblical term "Urim and Thummim".Morris, L. E. (n.d.). A documentary history of the Book of Mormon. New York (N.Y.): Oxford University Press. page 250"I had the privilege of seeing for the first time in my day the URIM & THUMMIM." Wilford Woodruff journal, Dec. 27, 1841 In January 1833 W. W. Phelps wrote about a possible connection: "It [Book of Mormon] was translated by the gift and power of God, by an unlearned man, through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles- (known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)". Similarly, Oliver Cowdery wrote in September 1834, "[Smith] translated, with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, 'Interpreters. In 1838, Smith simply stated, "I obtained [the plates], and the Urim and Thummim with them; by the means of which, I translated the plates; and thus came the Book of Mormon."
No mention of the term "Urim and Thummim" exists in the 1833 version of the Book of Commandments, or in early transcriptions of Joseph Smith's revelations. In the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, revelations were modified and the term was added.
Verse 1833 Book of Commandments 1835 Doctrine and CovenantsChapter 9:1 (1833)Section 36:1(1835)Section 10:1 (1981) Now, behold I say unto you, that because you delivered up so many writings, which you had power to translate, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them, and you also lost your gift at the same time ... Now, behold I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them; and you also lost your gift at the same time ...Section 42:1 (1835)Section 17:1 (1981) [Not Present in 1833 Book of Commandments] Behold I say unto you, that you must rely upon myword, which if you do, with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the red sea; and it is by your faith that you shall obtain a view of them, even by that faith which was had by the prophets of old.
Apostle Orson Pratt gave an expansive definition in 1851 stating: "The Urim and Thummim is a stone or other substance sanctified and illuminated by the Spirit of the living God, and presented to those who are blessed with the gift of seeing."Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," M.A. thesis, Utah State University, 2000 pg. 41 Emma Smith, Joseph Smith's wife and scribe for part of the Book of Mormon, made a clear distinction between the two in an 1870 letter, "The first that my husband translated, was translated by the use of the Urim, and Thummim [i.e. spectacles or interpreters], and that was the part that Martin Harris lost, after that he used a small stone, not exactly, black, but was rather a dark color."MacKay, M. H. (2016). Joseph Smiths seer stones. Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center.
By the beginning of the 20th century, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) grew to see the "Urim and Thummim" as completely dissociated from seer stones, a distinction that persists today among many members of the church.Stapley, J. A. (2018). The power of godliness: mormon liturgy and cosmology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. page 118"In current LDS usage, "the Urim and Thummim" (Yur' •im and Thum' •im) usually refers only to the seeric spectacles that Smith discovered with the golden plates" Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," M.A. thesis, Utah State University, 2000, page 40 This disassociation is typified by church leader Bruce R. McConkie who wrote: "the Prophet had a seer stone which was separate and distinct from the Urim and Thummim."Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966).See also comment in 1956 by Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith:
"The statement has been made that the Urim and Thummim was on the altar in the Manti Temple when that building was dedicated. The Urim and Thummim so spoken of, however, was the seer stone which was in the possession of the Prophet Joseph Smith in early days. ... The Urim and Thummim which were given to the Brother of Jared, were preserved for this very purpose of translating the record. ... It hardly seems reasonable to suppose that the Prophet would substitute something evidently inferior under these circumstances. It may have been so, but it is so easy for a story of this kind to be circulated due to the fact that the Prophet did possess a seer stone, which he may have used for some other purposes. "Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1956), 3:225, quoted in 2009 LDS Church Book of Mormon student manual
Reasons for adoption of the term The motive for adopting the term 'Urim and Thummim' is the subject of continued debate and ongoing study.
The general consensus is that it was part of a larger effort to de-emphasize early folk magic practices, and bring them into the mainstream.Quinn, D. Michael (1998), Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (2nd ed.), Salt Lake City: Signature Books, pp. 171–173, Joseph Smith was put on trial in 1826, and twice in 1830 for practicing folk magic and being a disorderly person or "glass looker" (stone gazer). Fear of further litigation and shifting cultural attitudes towards the acceptability of folk magic in 1830 American society led Smith to remove allusions to folk magic elements in his early life (such as magical treasure-seeking activities, divining rods, magic circles and seer stones)
Some apologists within the LDS Church argue that Smith never used the seer stone in the translation, that the term 'Urim and Thummim' is not a later development, and accuse those who make a distinction of being revisionist historians."The progressive historians who propound the “seer stone in a hat” narrative—may attempt to construe Joseph Smith’s use of the phrase “Urim and Thummim” as vague and undefined. They might ask, “Joseph Smith used the term ‘Urim and Thummim’ rather ambiguously. Could the ‘Urim and Thummim’ not simply be a dark seer stone?" Stoddard, L. H., & Stoddard, J. F. (2019). Seer stone v. Urim & Thummim: Book of Mormon translation on trial. Salem, UT: Joseph Smith Foundation.
Recent publications by the LDS Church acknowledge the shift in terminology occurring in the early 1830s, but do not speculate on reasons for doing so. Apologetic site FAIR attributes the change to early Latter Day Saints noticing similarities between the biblical devices and the Nephite interpreters, the term naturally entered the vernacular over time, and that "use of the term Urim and Thummim has unfortunately obscured the fact that all such devices belong in the same class of consecrated revelatory aids and that more than one were used in the translation."
Interpreters (Spectacles) In 1827, Smith said that he had been visited again by the angel who had previously revealed the location of the golden plates, along with other items such as the Urim and Thummim, and that these objects were buried in a nearby hillside. After Martin Harris lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript in June 1828, Smith said that the Angel Moroni took back the plates and interpreters. Later, the plates and interpreters were returned. Several accounts have him translating exclusively with the seer stone from that point on.Bushman, R. L., & Woodworth, J. (2007). Joseph Smith: rough stone rolling. New York: Vintage Books. e-book location 1718 of 17510Vogel, D. (2004). Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet. Signature Books. e-book location 4772 of 19201 David Whitmer was asked in 1855 the role of the Interpreters in the translation of the Book of Mormon and responded: