Bible Verse
Numbers 26:55-57
New International Reader’s Version
55 “Be sure that you cast lots when you give out the land. What each family receives will be based on the number of men listed in its tribe. 56 Cast lots when you give out each share. Cast lots for the larger and smaller families alike.”
57 Here are the names of the Levites. They are listed by their families.
The Gershonite family came from Gershon.
The Kohathite family came from Kohath.
The Merarite family came from Merari.
Practical Question
In this Bible Verse, it says that the Jews drew lots to determine how property would be split. Imagine that you happened to get a ‘crappy deal’. Imagine that everybody drew lots and you got property which was not very good while another family drew lots for property that was much better.
In such a situation, the person would be very tempted to blame God for the distribution of property, afterall God controls how the lots are cast.
At the absolute highest theological level there might be truth to this. However the truth is more complex than “He deserves it.” Buddhism speaks of us “being tested by the Bodhisattvas” and of bad things happening in life while that is occurring. In Buddhism, the reason for being in a poor situation is that a person could be a great spiritual master could be being given one final test before being ready to reach Enlightenment. In Christianity, Jesus was asked why a man was born blind. ‘Was it his sin or the sin of his parents’. Jesus said, it was neigher, it was simply the will of God.
Buddhist Commentary
For me, the Buddhist view holds the highest Spiritual Wisdom on this topic.
The Buddha told a story of a man who was shot by an arrow. He refused to get treatment until he understood what type of arrow shot him and what type of poison was used.
The Spiritual Message behind this story is that if you are in a bad situation due to poverty or due to being born into a disadvantaged family or situation, spending you effort wondering about God and why ‘God did this to you’ is mostly wasted energy. The greatest Spiritual Path is instead to recognize that many people are in very bad situations and look for ways that you can improve your situation and give love to others.
Christian Commentary
A child once asked, ‘Why do bad things happen?’
The mother replied, ‘Because this is earth and not heaven’.
While this answer is simple at first, the wisdom is that in this realm of suffering there is chaos and injustice. While Spiritual teachings discuss types of Karma (or Ancesteral Curses as spoken of by the Bible), the overall understanding is that this realm of existence has injustice and sometimes people are born into bad situations. There may be ways to make life physically better, to enjoy life through the chaos, but in the end we do exist in a world where inperfection exists. Like the Buddha story about the man show by the arrow the highest Spiritual Wisdom is to learn to love God and not blame God.
Buddhist Commentary
Question: Buddhism speaks of many different types of karma. For example, Buddhism speaks of group karma, of generational karma. I have heard it said that living in a foreign country for as little as 6 months or more can change a person’s karma. If a person is experiencing bad luck or unfortunate circumstances, are there explanations within Buddhism which make the issue less personal other than saying that the person did something wrong in a past life.
Answer: Buddhism offers several nuanced perspectives on karma that move beyond the overly simplistic “you did something wrong in a past life” explanation for current difficulties. These broader understandings can indeed make challenging circumstances feel less personally condemning:
Collective and Interconnected Karma Buddhist thought recognizes that we’re embedded in webs of collective karma – family karma, community karma, and societal karma. Your difficulties might stem from being part of larger karmic patterns rather than solely from your individual past actions. This includes generational karma, where unresolved patterns from ancestors influence present circumstances.
Environmental and Geographic Karma The idea about living abroad relates to the Buddhist understanding that different places have different karmic “fields” or energetic qualities. Moving to a new location can shift your karmic circumstances because you’re entering different collective patterns and environmental influences. This isn’t about personal fault but about karmic geography.
Ripening Conditions Buddhism teaches that karmic seeds need specific conditions to ripen. Sometimes you might experience the results of collective karma simply because conditions are right, not because you personally created all the causes. You might be experiencing something that’s more about timing and circumstances than individual wrongdoing.
Purification and Learning Many Buddhist teachers frame difficulties as opportunities for purification – burning off old karma regardless of its origin – or as lessons the soul needs for growth. This reframes suffering as potentially beneficial rather than purely punitive.
Interdependence The doctrine of interdependence suggests that all phenomena arise from multiple causes and conditions. Your current situation likely results from countless interconnected factors, many beyond your personal karmic history.
These perspectives offer a more compassionate and less self-blaming approach to understanding life’s challenges while maintaining the Buddhist framework of karma and causation.
Jewish and Christian Commentary
Question: In the Bible, numbers 26:55-57 God asks the jews to cast lots to determine who gets property. It seems that if God controls everything then God would control who got what property. What is Jewish and Christian commentary on this verse. Do the early Christian church fathers say anything on this?
Jewish and Christian Commentary
Both Jewish and Christian commentators have addressed this apparent paradox extensively:
Jewish Commentary
Traditional Jewish commentary (as reflected in sources like Rashi) explains that “the lot, he says, was by the Holy Ghost” – meaning that while lots were cast, the outcome was directly controlled by divine providence. Numbers 26:55 Commentaries: “But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. The physical act of casting lots was seen as the mechanism through which God’s predetermined will was revealed, not as leaving anything to chance.
The Jewish perspective generally holds that the lots served multiple purposes:
They provided an objective, impartial method that no tribe could dispute
They demonstrated that the land distribution was God’s decision, not human favoritism
They fulfilled God’s command while allowing divine sovereignty to operate through the process
Christian Commentary
Christian sources explain that “casting lots was a practice that was used in the ancient world to attempt to decipher what was the divine will in a particular matter. Because the outcome produced by casting lots was random, the result was seen as the divine answer.” Does the Bible Condemn Casting Lots? | Bible Study Tools
The Christian understanding typically emphasizes that:
God works through secondary causes and means, including lots
1) The randomness is only apparent from a human perspective – God controls the outcome
2) This demonstrates God’s sovereignty over even seemingly chance events
3) The method ensured fairness and prevented human manipulation
Early Church Father's Commentary
Early Church Fathers
While I found references to various Church Fathers discussing lots in other contexts (such as the casting of lots for Jesus’s garments), specific commentary on Numbers 26:55-57 from the early Church Fathers wasn’t readily available in my search results. However, the general patristic approach to such passages would align with the principle that God’s providence works through natural and human instruments without compromising divine sovereignty.
The theological resolution across both traditions is that casting lots doesn’t represent God abdicating control, but rather God choosing to exercise that control through a particular method that serves both practical and spiritual purposes