God's Apportionment: Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility in the Land
Introduction: The Hinge of the Conquest
The book of Numbers is a book of counting, a book of lists, but it is far from a dry accounting ledger. It is the story of two generations, starkly contrasted. The first generation, counted at Sinai, was the generation of unbelief. They heard the promise of God, they saw His mighty works, and yet, when faced with the giants in the land, their hearts melted. They failed the test at Kadesh Barnea and were consequently condemned to wander and die in the wilderness. Their carcasses fell in that desert, a monument to the folly of distrusting the word of a faithful God.
But now, in chapter 26, on the plains of Moab, on the very doorstep of the Promised Land, a new census is taken. This is the second generation, the generation of the conquest. They are being numbered for war and for inheritance. The previous generation was counted for a task they refused. This generation is being counted for a task they are about to undertake. This census is not just about numbers; it is about readiness, about transition, and about the unshakeable faithfulness of God to His covenant promises, even when men are faithless.
Our text today deals with the principles by which the promised inheritance will be distributed. And right here, in this administrative directive from God, we find one of the most profound theological truths that runs through all of Scripture. We see the perfect, seamless intersection of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The land is to be divided according to the number of names, that is, according to the size and strength of the tribes. That is the human responsibility side of the ledger. But the land is also to be divided by lot, which is the divine sovereignty side. How do these two principles work together? Our modern sensibilities want to pit them against each other. We think it must be either/or. Either our efforts matter, or God's decree determines all. But the Bible consistently presents us with a both/and reality. God ordains all things, and He does so in such a way that our choices, our actions, and our numbers are real and meaningful. This passage is not just about real estate in ancient Canaan; it is about how God governs His world and His church.
The Text
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Among these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. To the larger group you shall increase their inheritance, and to the smaller group you shall diminish their inheritance; each shall be given their inheritance according to those who were numbered of them. But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. According to the selection by lot, their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller groups.”
(Numbers 26:52-56 LSB)
Proportional Responsibility (vv. 52-54)
We begin with God's instruction to Moses:
"Among these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. To the larger group you shall increase their inheritance, and to the smaller group you shall diminish their inheritance; each shall be given their inheritance according to those who were numbered of them." (Numbers 26:52-54)
The first principle of distribution is straightforward equity. The census has just been completed. The fighting men of each tribe have been numbered. Now God says that the size of the inheritance is to be directly proportional to the size of the tribe. More people, more land. Fewer people, less land. This is simple, practical justice.
But we must not read this in a flat, merely pragmatic way. This principle is shot through with covenantal significance. The size of a tribe was a measure of God's blessing of fruitfulness upon them. A larger tribe meant that, in some measure, they had been more fruitful and had multiplied more than a smaller tribe. This is a direct outworking of the dominion mandate given to Adam and renewed to Noah: be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God is rewarding that obedience, that fruitfulness, with a larger portion of the inheritance. This establishes a clear principle: to whom much is given, much is required, and to whom much is produced, much is given.
This is the principle of stewardship. The land is not a prize for winning a lottery; it is a tool for dominion. A larger tribe had more men to work the land, to defend its borders, and to build a godly culture within its territory. Giving them more land was not an arbitrary gift; it was equipping them for a larger task. God does not distribute His gifts randomly. He gives them in accordance with the responsibilities He intends for us to carry out. A man with a five-talent capacity gets five talents. A man with a two-talent capacity gets two. God is not an egalitarian. He distributes His grace and His resources with perfect, discriminating wisdom.
This is a direct rebuke to the spirit of our age, which is a spirit of envious egalitarianism. We are told that any disparity of outcome is by definition unjust. If one group has more and another has less, the secularist immediately cries foul and assumes oppression. But God here establishes a righteous inequality. The portions are not equal, but they are equitable. They are distributed according to a standard, the standard of population. This teaches us that true justice is not about ensuring everyone has the same thing; it is about ensuring everyone gets what is appropriate to them according to God's wise and just standard.
The Sovereign Lot (v. 55)
Just as we have absorbed the principle of proportional distribution, the text pivots to a second, and seemingly contradictory, principle.
"But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers." (Numbers 26:55 LSB)
The casting of the lot was a means of divine decision-making. It was a way of removing human bias, manipulation, and argument from a decision and placing the outcome directly and entirely in the hands of God. Proverbs 16:33 tells us, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from Yahweh." When Israel cast the lot, they were confessing that God alone had the right to make the final determination.
So which is it? Is the land divided by the pragmatic results of the census, or by the mysterious roll of the lot? The answer is yes. This is the great biblical paradox of divine sovereignty and human means. God did not tell them to ignore the census numbers and just start throwing dice for any piece of land. Nor did He tell them to get out their surveying equipment and maps and carve everything up based on human wisdom alone. He commanded them to use both.
The census determined the "how much." The lot determined the "where." The size of the inheritance was tied to the tribe's numbers, but the location of that inheritance, whether it was fertile hill country, a coastal plain, or a desert borderland, was determined by God alone. This prevented all manner of strife. Judah, the largest tribe, could not swagger up to the best piece of real estate and claim it by right of strength. Little Simeon could not be shoved off into the worst corner by tribal politics. God, through the lot, would assign each tribe its specific place. He is the one who determines the boundaries of our dwelling place (Acts 17:26).
This is a profound comfort. God's sovereign will is not a steamroller that flattens human agency. Rather, it is the ultimate context in which our agency operates. God's sovereignty does not cancel out our responsibility; it establishes it. He ordains the outcome, and He ordains the means to that outcome. He ordained that the tribes would grow to certain sizes, and He ordained that those sizes would correspond to the portions of land He had ordained for them from eternity.
Reconciling Friends (v. 56)
The final verse brings these two principles together, showing how they are not in conflict, but are friends working in harmony.
"According to the selection by lot, their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller groups." (Numbers 26:56 LSB)
This verse summarizes the whole process. The lot determines the specific portion, and that portion is then assigned to a larger or smaller tribe as is fitting. Imagine two sets of containers. One set contains slips of paper describing the various territories of Canaan. The other set contains the names of the tribes. God's providence works in such a way that when a tribe is drawn, the corresponding lot that is drawn is perfectly suited for its size. The lot for a large territory is drawn for a large tribe. The lot for a small territory is drawn for a small tribe. There is no conflict.
As Spurgeon said when asked how he reconciled divine sovereignty and human responsibility, "I never reconcile friends." These two truths are not enemies locked in a cage match. They are twin pillars of God's government. God is 100% sovereign over the outcome, and we are 100% responsible for our actions. God ordained the size of each tribe, and He ordained the location of their inheritance, and He used the means of a census and a lot to bring it all to pass. The playwright is responsible for every word Hamlet speaks, and Hamlet is responsible for every word Hamlet speaks. They are simply responsible on different planes of reality. God is the primary cause; the census and the lot are the secondary causes He uses to accomplish His will.
Our New Covenant Inheritance
This passage is not simply a historical curiosity about ancient land distribution. It establishes a pattern for how God deals with His people in every age. We too have been promised an inheritance. Peter tells us we have been born again to a living hope, to an inheritance that is "incorruptible and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4).
And what is this inheritance? It is nothing less than the world itself. "Blessed are the meek," Jesus says, "for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). The promise made to Abraham, that he would be the heir of the world, is fulfilled in Christ and extended to all who are in Him by faith (Romans 4:13). Our inheritance is not a cloudy, ethereal existence in the sky, but a renewed, restored, and glorified creation over which we will reign with Christ.
And how is this inheritance distributed? By the very same principles. On the one hand, it is entirely by God's sovereign lot. Our salvation is a gift of grace from first to last. We are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Our place in the kingdom is secured entirely by the sovereign good pleasure of God. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. It is all of grace, all by the divine lot.
But on the other hand, our rewards within that kingdom, the scope of our responsibility, are directly proportional to our faithfulness in this life. This is the principle of the census, of counting the fruit. Jesus makes this clear in the parable of the talents. The servant who faithfully stewarded five talents was given authority over ten cities. The servant who stewarded two was given authority over five. Their reward was proportional to their faithfulness. "To the larger group you shall increase their inheritance."
So we see the same beautiful harmony. Our eternal salvation is a free gift, determined by the lot of God's sovereign election. But our station and role in the coming kingdom are determined by the census of our faithful works. These works do not save us, but they are the measure by which our faithfulness is judged and rewarded. God's grace saves us, and that same grace enables us to perform the good works He prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). And He, in His glorious condescension, is pleased to reward those works.
Therefore, we are to live as this new generation on the plains of Moab. We look forward to our inheritance. We know our place is secured by the sovereign lot of God's grace in Jesus Christ. And because of that security, we labor faithfully, we fight our battles, we seek to be fruitful and multiply, knowing that our God is a righteous judge who will distribute the rewards of the inheritance with perfect, proportional justice. The lot has been cast. It fell on Calvary. Now, let us live lives worthy of the census.