John Calvin Commentary Numbers 33:54

"And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance: wheresoever the lot falleth to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye inherit." — Numbers 33:54 (ASV)

And you shall divide the land by lot. The method of division is also stated: each tribe was to possess what fell to it by lot. This was the best plan, for the various tribes would never have allowed themselves to be sent here or there at the discretion of men. Even if the arrangement had been left to the decisions of the judges, they would rather have quarreled with each other than determined what was right.

But we must consider something deeper here; namely, that by this method God gave certain proof that the children of Israel were the inheritors and masters of that land by His generosity and special blessing.

And, in the first place, we must remember that, although people consider nothing more a matter of chance than casting lots, they are still governed by God, as Solomon says (Proverbs 16:33).

God, therefore, commanded the people to cast lots, reserving to Himself the judgment as to whom they should fall. For how did it happen that Zebulun obtained his portion on the seashore, except because it had been thus predicted by the Patriarch Jacob? Why did a district productive of the best grain fall to the tribe of Asher, unless because it had been pronounced by the same lips that

“Out of Asher his bread should be fat;
and he should yield royal dainties”? (Genesis 49:20).

By the same prophecy, the tribe of Judah obtained an inheritance rich in vines and abounding in the best pastures. Thus, the division of the land by lot clearly showed that God had not formerly promised that land to Abraham in vain, because the proclamation of the gift by the mouth of Jacob was actually confirmed.

The pious old man had been expelled from there by famine; he was but a sojourner in Egypt and twice an exile. Yet he assigned their portions to his descendants in the most authoritative manner, just as the father of a family might divide his few acres of land among his heirs. God, however, finally sealed what then might have seemed ridiculous.

Therefore, it appears that things which, in the weakness of our senses, we imagine to move by the blind impulse of chance, are directed by God’s secret providence. His counsel always proceeds in such a regular course that the end corresponds with the beginning.

Again, he recommends to them the law of proportion, so that, according to their numbers, a greater or lesser allotment should be given to the various tribes.

The allegory that some perceive to be indicated here—namely, that we obtain our heavenly inheritance by God’s gratuitous good pleasure, as if by lot—although plausible at first sight, is easily refuted.

Hebron was a part of the inheritance, but Caleb obtained it without casting lots. An even more decided exception appears in the case of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh, who, by the consent of the rest and not by lot, acquired by privilege, as it were, all the territory that had been won on the other side of the Jordan.

Let my readers, therefore, learn to abstain from such fanciful ideas, lest they should often be obliged to confess with shame that they have grasped at an empty shadow.