• Ur
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • UR

      [flame].

      1. ‘Father’ of Eliphal, one of the mighty men of David’s military forces. (1 Chron. 11:26, 35) Ur appears to be the same person as Ahasbai.—2 Sam. 23:34.

      2. “Ur of the Chaldeans,” the city in Mesopotamia where Abram’s (Abraham’s) brother Haran (and likely Abraham himself) was born. (Gen. 11:28; Acts 7:2, 4) Jehovah appeared to Abraham and directed him to leave Ur. The Bible, crediting Terah with the move because he was the family head, says that Terah took his son Abraham, his daughter-in-law Sarah and his grandson Lot, moving from Ur to Haran.—Gen. 11:31; 12:1; Neh. 9:7.

      Usually Ur is identified with Tell el-Muqayyar on the W bank of the Euphrates some 150 miles (c. 241 kilometers) SE of Babylon. Ruins there cover an area of about 3,000 by 2,400 feet (914 by 732 meters). Once a center of worship of the moon-god Nanna (or Sin), the site’s most prominent feature is still a temple tower or ziggurat some 200 feet long, 150 wide and 70 high (c. 61 by 46 by 21 meters).

      In royal tombs at Ur excavators have found many objects of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and so forth, as well as indications that early Sumerian kings and queens of the city were buried with their retinue of male and female servants.

      Ruins of what appear to be private houses excavated at Ur (suggested by some as belonging to the period between the twentieth and sixteenth centuries B.C.E.) were constructed of brick, were plastered and whitewashed, and had thirteen or fourteen rooms surrounding a paved courtyard. Among clay tablets found at the site were some used to teach cuneiform writing. Other tablets indicate that students there had multiplication and division tables and worked at square and cube roots. Many of the tablets are business documents.

      From excavations at Ur it thus appears clear that Abraham made notable material sacrifices when leaving that city. But, in faith, the patriarch was “awaiting the city having real foundations, the builder and creator of which city is God.”—Heb. 11:8-10.

  • Urbanus
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • URBANUS

      (Ur·baʹnus) [refined, elegant].

      A Roman Christian greeted in Paul’s letter. (Rom. 16:9) The name is found frequently in inscriptions of Caesar’s household, but the record is silent as to whether this Urbanus was an imperial servant.

  • Uriah
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • URIAH

      (U·riʹah) [flame of Jah, or, my light is Jah].

      1. The Hittite husband of Bath-sheba. Uriah was one of David’s foreign warriors. (2 Sam. 23:39; 1 Chron. 11:41) His words, conduct, marriage to a Jewess and residence in Jerusalem close to the king’s palace, all suggest that he adopted the worship of Jehovah God as a circumcised proselyte.—2 Sam. 11:3, 6-11.

      While Uriah was engaged in the battle against Ammon at Rabbah, David committed adultery with his wife Bath-sheba, about which Uriah never learned. David then sent and had Uriah come to Jerusalem, whereupon the king asked him about the progress of the war and sent him out to go to his home so that his wife’s child might appear to be Uriah’s. However, Uriah refused to go there because the army was out in the field. (Deut. 23:9-11; compare 1 Samuel 21:5.) Even when David made him drunk he still refused to sleep at home. (2 Sam. 11:1-13) David’s crime against Uriah then doubled, for he returned to the war carrying David’s own instructions to Joab to maneuver Uriah’s death in battle.—2 Sam. 11:14-26.

      2. A priest who witnessed Isaiah’s writing the name of his son Maher-shalal-hash-baz on a tablet. (Isa. 8:1, 2) Uriah’s name is elsewhere spelled Urijah.—2 Ki. 16:10; see URIJAH No. 1.

      3. Presumably a priest, one who stood at Ezra’s right when he read from the Law to the returned exiles assembled at the Water Gate in Jerusalem.—Neh. 8:1-4.

  • Uriel
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • URIEL

      (U·riʹel) [flame of God or my light is God].

      1. A Levite descendant of Kohath; son of Tahath.—1 Chron. 6:22, 24.

      2. Chief of the Kohathites at the time David had the ark of the covenant brought to Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 15:5, 11, 12, 15.

      3. Father of Micaiah (Maacah), who was the wife of King Rehoboam and mother of Abijah. (2 Chron. 13:1, 2; 11:21) Maacah was Absalom’s granddaughter. Since Absalom’s three sons apparently died young and childless (2 Sam. 14:27; 18:18), Micaiah must have been the child of Absalom’s daughter Tamar, and Uriel not the son but the son-in-law of Absalom.

  • Urijah
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • URIJAH

      (U·riʹjah) [Jehovah is a light; flame of Jehovah].

      1. A priest during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah (761-746 B.C.E.). When Ahaz went to Damascus to offer tribute to Tiglath-pileser (III), he sent Urijah the design and pattern of the great altar he saw there, telling him to build one like it and later instructing him to use it instead of Jehovah’s altar. Urijah complied. (2 Ki. 16:8-16) Urijah (Uriah) also witnessed a writing of Isaiah. (Isa. 8:1, 2) Though not so identified, he was presumably high priest, in view of his importance and the absence of any other person so titled at this time.

      2. A prophet of Jehovah, son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. During the reign of Jehoiakim, Urijah prophesied against Judah and Jerusalem just as Jeremiah did. However, when Urijah learned that Jehoiakim sought his death, he fled to Egypt, but was brought back and slain, his body being cast into a common graveyard.—Jer. 26:20-23.

      3. A priest whose son Meremoth was one of the priests in whose care Ezra entrusted the gold and silver and temple vessels brought to Jerusalem. Urijah later helped to repair Jerusalem’s wall; son of Hakkoz.—Ezra 8:33; Neh. 3:4, 21.

  • Urim and Thummim
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • URIM AND THUMMIM

      (“lights and perfections,” plural in the sense of excellence).

      The first mention of these items in the Scriptures is found at Exodus 28:30.

      As recorded at Leviticus 8:8, Moses, after placing the breastpiece upon Aaron, put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece. While the Hebrew preposition here translated “in” can be rendered “upon,” the same word is used at Exodus 25:16 in speaking of placing the two stone tablets in the ark of the covenant. (Ex. 31:18) Some have proposed the suggestion that the Urim and the Thummim were the twelve stones affixed to the breastpiece. That this was not the case is shown by the fact that, in the priestly inauguration ceremony, the completed breastpiece with the twelve stones sewed on it, was put upon Aaron, and then the Urim and Thummim were put in it. Also, a comparison of Exodus 28:9, 12, 30 refutes the theory that they consisted of the two onyx stones on the shoulder pieces of the high priest’s ephod. (Ex. 28:9-14) They evidently were separate objects.

      THEIR USE

      It is notable that the Urim and the Thummim were to be over Aaron’s heart when he went “in before Jehovah,” doubtless referring to Aaron’s standing in the Holy Place before the curtain to the Most Holy compartment when inquiring of Jehovah. Their location, “over Aaron’s heart,” would appear to indicate that the Urim and the Thummim were placed in the fold or pouch formed by the doubled construction of the breastpiece. They were for the “judgments of the sons of Israel,” and were used when a question of importance to the national leaders and consequently to the nation itself needed an answer from Jehovah. Jehovah, Israel’s Lawgiver, being the source of light and perfection’ in judgment, would give an answer to the high priest as to the right course to pursue on any matter.

      David called upon Abiathar to employ the Urim and the Thummim when Abiathar, after escaping the slaughter of the priests of Nob in which his father died, came to David with the ephod, apparently the ephod of the high priest.—1 Sam. 22:19, 20; 23:6-15.

      MAY HAVE BEEN LOTS

      From the instances recorded in the Scriptures in which Jehovah was consulted by Urim and Thummim it appears that the question was so framed that a “yes” or “no” answer, or at least a very brief and direct reply, could be given. In one instance (1 Sam. 28:6) the Urim is mentioned alone, evidently with the Thummim also understood to be included.

      A number of Bible commentators believe that the Urim and the Thummim were lots. They are called “the sacred lots” in James Moffatt’s translation of Exodus 28:30. Some suppose that they consisted of three pieces, one inscribed with the word “yes,” one with “no,” and the other blank. These would be drawn, giving the answer to the question propounded, unless the blank piece was drawn, in which case no answer was forthcoming. Others think that they may have been two flat stones, white on one side and black on the other. When thrown down, two white sides up would mean “yes,” two black sides “no,” and a black and a white would mean no answer. On one occasion, when Saul had inquired through the priest as to whether to resume an attack on the Philistines, he received no answer. Feeling that someone among his men had sinned, he petitioned: “O God of Israel, do give Thummim!” Saul and Jonathan were taken from among those present, after which lots were cast to decide between the two. In this account the appeal, “Do give Thummim,” seems to be separate from the lot casting, though it may give indication that there was some connection between the two.—1 Sam. 14:36-42.

      SERVED TO LINK KINGDOM WITH PRIESTHOOD

      The Aaronic priesthood is referred to at Deuteronomy 33:8-10 (NW, 1970 ed.), which says: “Your Thummim and your Urim belong to the man loyal to you.” The reference to these as belonging “to the man loyal to you [Jehovah]” perhaps alludes to the loyalty of the tribe of Levi, from which the Aaronic priesthood came, as demonstrated in connection with the incident of the golden calf.—Ex. 32:25-29.

      Jehovah wisely provided the Urim and the Thummim and placed them in the hands of the high priest. This made the king dependent to a great extent on the priesthood, avoiding the concentration of too much power in the hands of the king. It brought about the necessity of cooperation between the kingship and the priesthood. (Num. 27:18-21) Jehovah made known his will to Israel by his written Word, also by prophets and by dreams. But it seems that prophets and dreams were used for special occasions, whereas the high priest with the Urim and the Thummim was always present with the people.

      DISAPPEARED IN 607 B.C.E.

      According to Jewish tradition, the Urim and the Thummim disappeared, together with the ark of the covenant, when Jerusalem was desolated and her temple destroyed in 607 B.C.E. by the Babylonian armies under King Nebuchadnezzar. This view is supported by what we read regarding these objects in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. There certain men, claimants to priestly descent, but who could not find their names in the public register, were told that they could not eat from the most holy things provided for the priesthood until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim, and thereafter the Bible makes no further reference to these sacred objects.—Ezra 2:61-63; Neh. 7:63-65.

      GREATER HIGH PRIEST CONSULTS JEHOVAH

      Jesus Christ is described in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews as the great King-Priest according to the manner of Melchizedek. (Heb. 6:19, 20; 7:1-3) In him kingship and priesthood are combined. His priestly work was foreshadowed by that of the high priest of ancient Israel. (Heb. 8:3-5; 9:6-12) All judgment of mankind is committed into his hands as such a High Priest. (John 5:22) Nevertheless, when on earth Jesus declared: “The things I say to you men I do not speak of my own originality; but the Father who remains in union with me is doing his works” (John 14:10), and, “I do nothing of my own initiative; but just as the Father taught me I speak these things.” (John 8:28) Also, he said: “If I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I am not alone, but the Father who sent me is with me.” (John 8:16) Certainly in his exalted heavenly position, perfected as High Priest forever, he continues in this course of subjection to his Father, looking to him for ‘light and perfection’ in judgment.—Heb. 7:28; compare 1 Corinthians 11:3; 15:27, 28.