And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.
And the Tirshatha said unto them, х hatirshaataa' (H8660)] - a title borne by the Persian governors of Judea (see also Nehemiah 7:65-70; Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1). It is derived from the Persic word torsh, which means severe, and is equivalent to 'your severity,' 'your awfulness.'
That they should not eat of the most holy things, until there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim. Zerubbabel, apparently perplexed about such cases as those of priests being unable to prove their Aaronic descent, deferred his decision until God might be pleased to restore the divinely-instituted and long-established method of ascertaining His will, and in the meantime excluded them from performing their sacred functions. His language seems to imply that the Urim and Thummim had been continued until the captivity, and the re-establishment of that means of consulting God was eagerly and confidently anticipated.
But a very different view is taken by some of the Tirshatha's words. They are of opinion that, 'as Joshua, the high priest, already officiated, and might have been employed for consultation, just as Phinehas or Abiathar had formerly been, the reference in this passage is not to the Jewish pontiff, but to the Messiah, of whom he was an illustrious type. Though now excluded from all participation with their brethren in the rights and functions of their sacerdotal office, the time would come when all ceremonial distinctions should be abrogated by the introduction of the clear and perfect dispensation of the gospel, and all the members of the Church be on an equality with respect to the enjoyment of her immunities. This interpretation receives some degree of support from the declaration of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:8) (see Henderson, 'On Inspiration,' p. 123).