🔼The name Thummim: Summary
- Meaning
- Perfections, Integrities
- Etymology
- From the verb תמם (tamam), to be complete.
🔼The name Thummim in the Bible
The Thummim is one of two enigmatic items that were placed in the breastplate of the high priest; the other one being the Urim (Exodus 28:30).
We don't know what they were or what they were made of but the Urim and the Thummim were somehow used to consult God (Numbers 27:21, 1 Samuel 28:6). And whatever they were, the Urim and Thummim apparently survived until after the return (Nehemiah 7:65, here spelled תומים).
🔼Etymology of the name Thummim
The word thummim is most likely a derivation of the wonderful Hebrew root תמם (tamam), meaning to be complete:
תמם
The verb תמם (tamam) means to be complete, finished, ethically sound or upright. Nouns תם (tom) and תמה (tumma) mean integrity or completeness. Adjective תם (tam) means complete or perfect, sound or wholesome, or morally integer (Job 1:8). Adjective תמים (tamim) means complete or whole, or sound or having integrity. Noun מתם (metom) means entirety or soundness.
The word thummim looks a lot like תמים (tamim), meaning complete, a word that is used to describe sacrifices — without blemish and perfect. Speech that is tamim is 'complete, entirely in accord with truth and fact,' as BDB Theological Dictionary has it. But the word thummim is a noun and thus probably a plural of either תם (tom), meaning integrity, or תם (tam) , meaning perfect.
🔼Thummim meaning
Thummim means Perfections or Integrities.