Bookshelf: Cornelis Van Dam

Cornelis Van Dam's recent monograph The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel is a great resource for understanding the UT in the OT.  It also opens up certain Book of Mormon passages: if you look closely, you'll see that, although the UT isn't mentioned, a couple of episodes in Alma track with the language of UT use exactly (high priest, gift of prophecy, national crisis, inquire of the Lord, possible indications of use in secluded / consecrated space, etc.), suggesting that the Nephites used the Urim and Thummim not only to translate, but also to make military decisions.  See, e.g., Alma 16:5-6 and Alma 43:23-24.

He Could Show Unto Him All Things

The end of the brother of Jared's initiatory experience on Mount Shelem is as provocative as the rest has been.  He is given the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord connects both with the translation of unknown languages and also with a vision of all the inhabitants the earth has ever had.

This jibes with Ammon's description of the UT to Limhi: they can translate, and "by them shall all things be revealed."  It suggests that the Jaredites, like the Nephites, made oracular use of the UT.

It also solidly roots the giving and use of the UT in the temple.

Go and Inquire of the Lord

This episode bears many of the hallmarks of the oracular use of the Urim & Thummim: the holy man, in a time of national (tribal) crisis, at the behest of the political leader goes apart into a holy place and "inquires of the Lord."  The only tags that are missing are an explicit statement about the gift of prophecy and about the brother of Jared being a high priest, but both may be implicit in the note that he was "mighty" and "highly favored of the Lord." Even the note that the Jaredites will go "down" is consistent with the possibility that the brother of Jared is inquiring of the Lord in a holy mountain or temple setting.