Urim and Thummim at Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Here is something I've been wondering about for a while. I have started a topical study of the scriptures and I dedicated one day to the urim and thummim. As far as I can trace it was prepared from the beginning (Adam?) Mosiah 28:13-14. Enoch is called a seer so it possibly could have passed from Adam to him, and then have been taken up with him. It was given to the Brother of Jared by the Lord personally Ether 3:23. He was to seal it up with the writings. The BD tells us that "there is more than one urim and thummim". We also know that Joseph Smith used the same one that the Brother of Jared used D&C 17:1. Joseph got it from the Hill Cumorah, where Moroni hid it. Moroni presumably got it from his father and so on up the chain to the one that Mosiah had. There is a gap here from the Mosiah to the Brother of Jared. I have been wondering how he got it.

Scenario 1: It was passed down the line of prophets to Ether and he delivered it personally to the Nephite prophet of the time.

Scenario 2: The Brother of Jared sealed it up, hid it in the earth and it was uncovered sometime before Mosiah by a Nephite prophet.

Scenario 3: It was taken back by the Lord and given to the old world prophets and is the same mentioned in conjunction with Abraham and Aaron. Then later the Lord took it back and delivered it to a Nephite prophet.
3B: It stayed in possession of the kings of Judah and was taken by Nephi with the brass plates.

Problems:

Scenario 1: Why would Ether deliver the urim and thummim to a Nephite prophet but leave the 24 plates which he wrote to be found by the people of Limhi?

Scenario 2: We have no mention of it.

Scenario 3: The urim and thummim were sealed up with the record of the Jaredites, there is no mention of any other record of this type in old world scripture.

addendum to 3B: This scenario seems the least probable of the three but it might explain some other questions. Why did Nephi have to back for the plates? The Lord could have easily have revealed to him word for word everything contained on the plates. Was it just to test him? Or did he have to get the urim and thummim with the plates. Why did he bring Zoram back to help him carry the plates? He was a big guy, I'm sure he could have hefted them just fine. But if the urim and thummim were with the plates, with the large breastplate that Joseph described, Nephi might need some help hauling everything. Why was Laban so keen on keeping the plates? They weren't all that special, they weren't the only copy in existence. Maybe he just hated Lehi and his family. Or maybe Nephi also wanted the urim and thummim, for Laban that would have been much harder to part with. But once again there is no mention of any of this, making this scenario quite improbable.

Most likely outcome: We don't know so don't worry about it. I'm not going to go inactive because I can't fill in all the gaps. But it's still interesting to think about. Please comment on why one or all of these scenarios could be true or why they are not.