Numbers 26:54 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

To every one shall his inheritance be given— The tribes being thus registered and methodically distinguished, God informs Moses, that it was his will to make an equal division of the land of Canaan, which the Israelites were about to enter. This equal division of property was, under God, the great bulwark and strength of the Hebrew common-wealth; for, property is the natural foundation of power: hence the natural foundation of every government is laid in the distribution of the lands or territories belonging to the several members of it. If the prince is proprietor of the lands, as in some Eastern governments, he will be absolute: for all who hold the lands, hold them of the prince; and, enjoying them at his will and pleasure, are so dependant on his will, that they are in the condition of slaves, not of free subjects. If the property be divided among a few, the rest holding of them and under them as vassals, the power and authority in government will be in the hands of the few; but if the property be generally divided, and nearly equally, among all the members of the society, the true power and authority of such government will naturally be in all the members of that society, whatever form of union they may have for the better direction of the whole as a political body. Thus Mr. Lowman, Dissert. chap. 2:; and in chap. 3: the reader will find a very able and judicious account of the Hebrew territory, and the distribution of it.