casting of lots — Blog — KEN D. MILLER

1 These are the inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel gave them to inherit. 2 Their inheritance was by lot, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one-half tribes. 3 For Moses had given an inheritance to the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. 4 For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and their substance. 5 The people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses; they allotted the land.

6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8 But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

13 Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war. – Joshua 14:1-15 ESV

The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh had received their land on the eastern side of the Jordan, just as they had requested. Now, it was time to divide up the land that had been promised by God to Abraham. And God had provided Moses with a very precise plan to follow, which Moses had then passed on to Joshua. This was not going to be a free-for-all, where each tribe asserted itself and grabbed whatever land it wanted. God had dictated a very specific methodology for determining the dividing up of the land of Canaan between the tribes of Israel. There were now nine-and-a-half tribes left and the entire land of Canaan to parcel out and it was important that each received what God had ordained.

52 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 53 “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. 56 Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.” – Numbers 26:52-56 ESV

God had commanded Moses to utilize the casting of lots to determine the exact location and size of each tribe’s allotment. The casting of lots was a common practice among the people of God and is mentioned some 70 times in the Old Testament. We are not exactly sure what the lots looked like or how they were used, and to our modern sensibilities, it would appear to be nothing short of a game of chance, like throwing dice. But the Jews had a different perspective. Yes, casting lots involved a degree of chance, but as the book of Proverbs makes clear, the sovereign will of God determined the outcome.

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. – Proverbs 16:33 ESV

What might appear to us as nothing more than chance, was to the Hebrews a sign of God’s will. They believed that when the lots were cast, God was behind how they fell. They were a means of determining the will of God when it had not been made known. This means for determining the boundaries of each tribe’s inheritance provided a fair and reasonable outcome that prevented any show of favoritism on the part of Joshua. No one, but God, could know how the lots would fall. And the fact that all the tribes were willing to abide by the outcome determined by the lots, reveals that they firmly believed God was behind it all.

But before this process could be implemented, Joshua was approached by Caleb, a member of the tribe of Judah and one of the original 12 men who had spied out the land of Canaan 40 years earlier. Moses had sent Caleb and his 11 companions into the land in order to bring back a report concerning its natural resources and the military strength of its inhabitants.

17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” – Numbers 13:17-20 ESV

And when the 12 spies returned, they had brought good news and bad news. Yes, the land was abundant in fruit and rich in resources, but it was also filled with enemies who were too powerful for Israel to defeat. The spies painted a very bleak picture, causing the people of Israel to lose hope and to turn their backs on the promise of God.

32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” – Numbers 13:32-33 ESV

But Caleb had spoken up, presenting a very different outcome. He had not denied the presence of the enemy or attempted to underplay their strength. He simply encouraged the people to trust God. He believed that God had given them the land as an inheritance and, therefore, God would give them victory over their enemies.

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” – Numbers 13:30 ESV

But the people had refused to listen to Caleb. They went with the majority report and refused to enter the land. And God punished them for their lack of faith and their demonstration of unbelief in His promises.

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” – Numbers 14:26-30 ESV

Here we learn that Joshua was also one of the 12 spies and had sided with Caleb in his positive report and recommendation to enter the land. These two men were the only two to survive God’s purging of the people. And 40 years later, when the Israelites had finally entered the land, Joshua and Caleb were the only two from that previous generation who were still alive. Both were in their 80s and now Caleb was asking for his portion of the land he had waited so long and patiently to received. And it is interesting to note that Caleb requested the very land that his fellow spies had said was occupied by giants.

“The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” – Numbers 13:32-33 ESV

Caleb wanted to live in the very land where the Anakim lived. He was asking for the most difficult tract of land occupied by the most formidable enemy, because he was sure that God would give him victory over them.

“So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.” – Joshua 14:12 ESV

And Joshua gladly honored Caleb’s request, allotting to him and his people the land of Hebron, “because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel” (Joshua 14:14 ESV). And the author provides us with an important side note that states, “the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim)” (Joshua 14:15 ESV). Caleb was given the city that belonged to the mightiest of all the descendants of Anak. Caleb would have to conquer the city of Hebron to make it his own. He would have to eliminate the Anakim in order to possess the land given to him by Joshua. And the text clearly indicates that he did. “Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day” (Joshua 14:14 ESV). And the chapter ends with the a statement that Caleb kept his promise to drive out the Anakim from the land: “And the land had rest from war” (Joshua 14:15 ESV).

Caleb provides us with an illustration of faithfulness in the face of overwhelming odds. Not only did he stand opposed to the words of his fellow spies, encouraging obedience to God when everyone else was recommending rebellion, he waited decades to received the promise given to him by God. He had endured 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and then seven years of battle before he got the chance to enjoy his long-awaited inheritance. And even then, he had to fight to make it his own. But he did. God gave him victory, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.