J14-2: Was The Land Of Canaan Just Randomly Parceled Out To The Tribes Of Israel?

“These are the inheritances which the people of Israel took in the land of Kena‘an, which El‘azar the cohen, Y’hoshua the son of Nun and the heads of the ancestral clans of the tribes of the people of Israel distributed to them by lot for them to inherit, as Adonai ordered through Moshe, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe.”-Joshua 14:1-2

We’re told that the distribution of the land was determined by drawing lots.

But, the truth is…

…no one really knows how this procedure went.

Some sages suggest there were two jars each containing a bunch polished stones that were randomly selected.

Regardless, the important thing to understand is that the drawing of lots took place twice.

The first time was when Moses commanded it be done back in Moab.

And the second time is where we’re at now in our study with Joshua overseeing the whole process.

When Moses directed the drawing of lots, he was dealing with which tribe would settle in which region of Israel.

In other words…

…which tribe would be situated alongside the Mediterranean Sea?

Who would get the territory west of the Jordan River?

Who would have to settle for the desert lands?

And who would be more privileged to get the fertile territory teeming with vegetation and so on?

The lots drawn under Moses also decided which tribe would be situated next to which tribe.

However, what was NOT decided on was how big each territory for each tribe would be.

The actual boundaries and size of each distributed territory were based on the population numbers of the tribes.

Obviously the bigger tribes would get the bigger territories and the smaller tribes the smaller territories.

Distribution of land was based more on need and common sense than anything.

But having said that, this didn’t mean that parceling out the land to the 9 1/2 tribes was smooth sailing.

Far from it.

Adjustments had to be made over the years as the population sizes of the tribes changed and some in-fighting broke out as each tribe wanted to live in an area viewed as favorable for producing crops etcetera.