... A third point has yet to be made concerning the nature of the Urim and Thummim, which is a) that, according to the Old Testament witness itself, no one in the post-exilic period knew how to administer the Urim and Thummim (compare Ezra 2.63 and Nehemiah 7.65). This is made even more clear when we examine the various translations offered by the Septuagint of the Urim and Thummim, for if we do so, we speedily note that Urim and Thummim are sometimes translated as 'lights and perfections', sometimes as 'clarity' (Urim); indeed, on one occasion the Urim are taken to be a weird Hiphil of the root 'wr (Nehemiah 7.65 = Esdras II 17.65 : 'a priest to shed light' [on the matter]). When one notes that such details as which ear and which thumb of the high priest were to be dipped in the blood of the sacrificial ram of ordination (Exodus 29.19-20) managed to be perfectly preserved in the tradition, one wonders just how a small detail like Israel's pre-eminent oracle managed to be forgotten. There is, then, no evidence that the Urim and Thummim were part of an ancient Israelite mantic institution. ...