ON LAND TENURE IN ANCIENT TIMES. 181 
cultivating the land and witness year by year with absorbing 
interest its redistribution by “the lot” and “the line? ”— 
David records his own rich and highly prosperous lot in 
life, and acknowledges it as the assignment of Him Whe 
took him from the lowly calling of a shepherd to make him 
a king. ; 
The Psalmist has evidently a similar allusion in the verse 
descriptive of the driving out of the seven Canaanitish 
nations from Palestine, and its bestowal on the tribes cf 
Israel. It is literally— 
“ And he drove out nations from before them, 
And he caused to fall [for] them (ob»5')) an inheritance by a measuring- 
line (5373).”* 
But this verb bps, “fell,” in the hiphil structure, is the 
technical term used for “casting lots,” and the Revisers are 
bbe 
undoubtedly right in rendering ob pn “and allotted them.”j 
It should therefore read— 
“ And he drove out nations from before them, 
And he allotted them an inheritance by a measuring-line.” 
How pointed and full of meaning the figure now becomes 
in those words of enticement put by the wise man into the 
lips of sinners, 
“Cast [or thou shalt cast (ODn)] thy lot amongst us,’ 
that is, “take part in the joint-husbandry of our village,” in 
other words, “join our community.” ! 
The passage in the Authorised and Revised Versions, 
“For the Lorn’s portion is his people, 
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance,” 
** For Jehovah’s field (pen) is his people, 
Jacob is the measuring-line (731) of his inheritance,” 
that is, “ His allotted maress, or strip,” for here, by metony- 
* Psalm Ixxvili. 55. 
i Sp) alone, in the hiphil structure, is rendered “divided by lot,” 
“ allotted,” or “cast lots” in Joshua xiii. 6; xxiii. 4; 1 Samuel xiv. 42; 
Ezekiel xlv. 1; xlvii. 22; and xlviii. 29, in the Authorised Version, and 
it is virtually the same in the Revision, though “allotted” is put for 
“divided by lot.” 
{ Proverbs i. 14. § Deuteronomy xxxii. 9. 
