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Tetzaveh

Exodus 27:20-30:10

Ezekiel 43:10-27

If you think dressing can be an onerous task, consider what the high priest of ancient Israel wore.

Tetzaveh, this week's Torah portion, painstakingly details the high priest's majestic apparel: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress and a sash. The ephod is described as a blue garment encrusted with gold and jewels. The ornate sash and mantle were embroidered with pomegranates of blue, purple and crimson yarns alternating with bells of gold all around the hem; this is thought to be comparable to the vestments used to dress the Torah today. The words Kadosh L'Adonai ("Holy to God"), embroidered on cloth, were suspended by blue cords on the front of the gold headdress.

These garments must have stood in sharp contrast to the simple, unadorned clothing of desert shepherds and farmers, and would have made a powerful impression on anyone who came from the bright desert sun into the lamp-lit temple complex to view the high priest in all of his glory.

The breastplate, called "the breastplate of decision," is of particular interest. This ornament, inlaid with 12 different precious stones, inscribed with the names of the 12 tribes and worn on braided chains of pure gold over the high priest's heart, was central to the process of determining God's will.

On this breastplate were the Urim and Thumim, sacred objects thought to be dice, precious stones or sticks. They may have been inscribed with symbols or letters and were used as instruments of divination. It is thought that the high priest either pulled one die out of its receptacle or that he cast them on the ground to determine a divine prediction, revealed in the form of a "yes" or "no" answer.

Joshua directed his questions to the priest Eleazar, who in turn "shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord" (Numbers 27:21). Both King Saul and King David consulted these oracular devices (see I Samuel 14:36-37; 23:9-12; 28:6; 30:7-8). The biblical text also records instances when prophets "inquired of God." These passages do not make specific reference to the Urim and Thumim, but it is believed that these deliberations also used this device (see Judges 1:1-2; 20:23; I Samuel 10:22-23; 23:2-3; II Samuel 2:1; 5:19, 23-24).

Unfortunately, these references constitute the few places in which the Urim and Thumim were consulted. Thus, scholars have no firm idea of what they looked like or exactly how they were used. In addition, there is no consensus about the Hebrew meaning of these two words. After the period of King David, the Urim and Thumim are no longer mentioned, perhaps because by the time of the rise of classical prophecy, prediction of the future was made by verbal forecast rather than by this device.

The practice of divination was common in the ancient world. Priests would predict outcomes by consulting stars and planets, animal innards, smoke, birds, weather, etc. In the Greek world, Delphi was the site of the most famous oracle. A priestess sat on a tripod over a cleft in the rock on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus. Her incoherent babbling was interpreted by a priest who would offer supplicants the divine response to their queries. The casting of "lots" in the Purim story determined the fate of the Jews at the hands of the Persian court.

Although God spoke clearly and directly to Moses, to his brother Aaron and to the priests who succeeded him, they had to resort to instruments of divination to predict God's will. Although we often think God spoke clearly to our ancestors, the use of divination demonstrates that even they were not always certain of God's message and intent.

Most communities have had to deal with the waxing and waning of God's voice. Martin Buber, the great 20th-century theologian, suggested that to live in a time of God's silence is, indeed, a tragic time. Tetzaveh not only serves as a reminder of the high priest's vestments, but also the age-old problem of trying to understand God's will. Moses was spoken to directly by God, the priests utilized the divination tools of the Urim and Thumim and the prophets revealed God's will through verbal forecasts.

However, the quest to understand God's will and purpose is not as simple for those of us who struggle, as have individuals in every era, for just a glimpse of God's will.