Almanac › Objects & practices

Casting lots

Hebrew גּוֹרָל. Greek κλῆρος. Also called Lot, Lots, Drawing lots, Goral, Kleros, goral / kleros.

Deciding by a throw rather than by argument — used for land, for duty rows, for the guilty, and for a new apostle.

A lot was a marked stone, stick or token shaken out of a container or a fold of clothing, and it was used whenever a decision should not be anyone's own. The land of Canaan is divided by lot; so are the priests' duty rota, the wood offering, and who has to move into Jerusalem. It picks which goat is sent into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement, finds Jonah on the ship, and chooses Matthias to replace Judas. The theology is stated in a line of Proverbs: the lot is thrown into the lap, but the decision is the Lord's. That is why the word itself comes to mean a person's portion in life, as when a psalm says "you made my lot secure". Matthias is the last time it is used to decide anything in the Bible; after Pentecost it never appears again.

Where it appears

• Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from Yahweh
• Leviticus 16:8 One lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat
• Joshua 18:10 Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh
• Jonah 1:7 The lot fell on Jonah
• John 19:23-24 They cast lots for my clothing
• Acts 1:23-26 The lot fell on Matthias

See also

• Urim and Thummim — Both are lots — the priest's kind, and everyone's
• Day of Atonement — The two goats are chosen by lot
• Pur — The same practice, in Hebrew

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