Proverbs 16:33 - Exposition

The lot is cast into the lap. The bosom or fold of the garment ( Proverbs 6:27 ; Proverbs 17:23 ; Proverbs 21:14 ). It is not quite clear what articles the Jews used in their divinations by lot. Probably they employed stones, differing in shape or colour, or having some distinguishing mark. These were placed in a vessel or in the fold of a garment, and drawn or shaken thence. Such a practice has been common in all ages and countries; and though only cursorily mentioned in the Mosaic legislation ( Numbers 26:55 ), it was used by the Jews from the time of Joshua, and in the earliest days of the Christian Church (see Joshua 18:10 ; 20:9 ; 1 Samuel 10:20 , 1 Samuel 10:21 ; Acts 1:1-26 :28, etc.). As by this means man's agency was minimized, and all partiality and chicanery were excluded, the decision was regarded as directed by Providence. There is one case only of ordeal in the Law, and that under suspicion of adultery ( Numbers 5:12 , etc.). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, in place of the lot we read ( Hebrews 6:16 ), "An oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife." The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. In these eases the Jew learned to see, in what we call chance, the overruling of Divine power. But this was not blind superstition. He did not feel justified in resorting to this practice on every trivial occasion, as persons used the Sortes Virgilianae or even the verses of the Bible for the same purpose. The lot was employed religiously in cases where other means of decision were not suitable or available; it was not to supersede common prudence or careful investigation; but, for example, in trials where the evidence was conflicting and the judges could not determine the case, the merits were ascer-rained by lot (comp. Joshua 18:18 ). After the effusion of the Holy Spirit, the apostles never resorted to divination, and the Christian Church has wisely repudiated the practice of all such modes of discovering the Divine will. Septuagint, "For the unrighteous all things fall into their bosom, but from the Lord are all just things," which may mean either that, though the wicked seem to prosper, God still works out his righteous ends; or the evil suffer retribution, and thus God's justice is displayed.