Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.
The land shall be divided by lot. The appeal to the lot did not place the matter beyond the control of God; because it is at His disposal (Proverbs 16:33), and he has fixed to all the bounds of their habitation. The manner in which the lot was taken has not been recorded. But it is evident that the lot was cast for determining the quarter of the country on which each tribe should be located, not the quantity of their possessions. In other words, when the lot had decided that a particular tribe was to be settled in the north or the south, the east or the west, the extent of territory was allocated according to the rule (Numbers 26:54). 'By this regulation provision was made for the support of upwards of 600,000 yeomanry, with from six to twenty acres of land each,' (Graves 'On the Pentateuch,' 2:, p. 8, who refers to Lowman 'On the Hebrew Government,' ch. 4:; Cunoeus' 'De Republica Hebraeorum,' cap. 2:)