How would you feel if where you live and what land you own was determined by public lottery? This system determined vast formerly Native lands in the United States - and begins in the Bible. Is is a terrible idea?
The Shrine of Shiloh wasn’t just the new Hebraic hotspot for sacred gatherings and sacrificial rites - in these chapters it’s the site where the plots and lands of the remaining 7 tribes were determined - not because of demographic need - but with the use of lottery.
There are some conflicting versions about which tribe gets what land and how that is determined. Earlier in the Torah it is announced that the estates will be distributed based on the tribe’s size. But as the Book of Joshua proceeds it’s clear that the bigger and important ones get in first while the lesser ones need to fight harder to keep up. By the time the Mishkan is set up in Shiloh the lottery ritual is activated to consult the divine in the allocation of real estate:
אֵ֣לֶּה הַנְּחָלֹ֡ת אֲשֶׁ֣ר נִחֲל֣וּ אֶלְעָזָ֣ר הַכֹּהֵ֣ן ׀ וִיהוֹשֻׁ֪עַ בִּן־נ֟וּן וְרָאשֵׁ֣י הָאָב֣וֹת לְמַטּוֹת֩ בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל ׀ בְּגוֹרָ֤ל ׀ בְּשִׁלֹה֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד וַיְכַלּ֕וּ מֵחַלֵּ֖ק אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ׃}
These are the portions assigned by lot to the tribes of Israel by the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral houses, before Adonai at Shiloh, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, when they had finished dividing the land.
Why is lottery used to allot land to people? How does this tradition echo what we know about colonial practices that disregard both the needs of displaced native peoples and the interests of the newcomers by superimposing the will of authority and so called divine will over these fateful decisions that will impact generations?
Scholars claim that this lottery is a later insertion, justifying what were already facts on the ground and long held lineages of property rights. The claim that “God said so” to justify land ownership is an attempt to minimize strife and war between competing tribes.
Upcoming chapters will demonstrate that this strategy will not be proven successful.
The Mishkan is the site for one more additional important lottery. On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a lottery ritual is held to decide which of two identical goats is offered to YHWH while the other goat is designated as the scapegoat. Here, too, fate intervenes in determining the people’s fate and wellbeing in the year ahead, even if symbolically. Here too it’s about binary reality - one wins, one loses. What if there were other ways to think of life?
The lottery of land is maybe here to remind the people - ultimately, you are not in charge, even if you are the land owner. Subject to the whims of fate and perhaps your superiors - humility and appreciation for impermanence will help the new settlers deal more kindly with their neighbors - natives and newcomers alike. At least in theory. Ahead of Thanksgiving celebrated and/or marked later this week in the United States, we know more about how lottery and other sanctions made some people into landlords while many others were evicted and deprived of basic decent housing and the access to ancestral lands.
How would any of us respond to the re-distribution of real estate in our cities and countries based on lottery? Might this be a better system to reset and determine home-ownership that the current capitalist system based on bias and systemic imbalance?
For Joshua’s generation, the imposing of divine will on land division through lottery is perhaps one way to confer legitimacy on the conquest of local lands, clearly defining who is the chosen nation - and who are the scapegoats, determined by the gods of history to be erased off the map. History, whatever fates navigate its course, knows better.
Ready to wrap up the journey with Joshua? Almost there.. Join me on November 21 2022, 1pm ET for a one hour Zoom conversation, exploring what we’ve discovered, what are we curious about. I'll be taking time to answer your questions - so please bring one!
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85448738911?pwd=dmRIRndNNDhjaXZsVjh5K3dSYUdLQT09
Meeting ID: 854 4873 8911Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections: Join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible, with daily reflections, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. January 2022-July 2025
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History knows better, yet continues to repeat itself. When will we ever learn, oh when will we ever learn (w/slight adjustment to Pete Seeger’s refrain)?