Bava Batra 122a — the Talmud in English

And we resolve it:

come and hear:

it is stated in the Torah: “According to the lot shall his inheritance be divided

between the large and the small.”

That is to say, all the tribes receive an equal share, both a tribe in which there are few people and one with a large population. And it follows that the portions of the members of the smaller tribe are larger than those of the larger one.

And it was further taught

explicitly in a beraita that the Land of Israel was divided according to the tribes:

“The Land of Israel is destined to be divided among thirteen tribes,” [

this will be explained below].

“At first,”

when they came into the land,

“it was divided only among twelve tribes,”

“And it was divided only with money, as it is stated: ‘between the large and the small.’”

The Gemara explains: What is meant by “with money”?

Rabbi Judah said: A se’a in Judea is worth five se’in in the Galilee,

and therefore one who received a se’a in Judea would pay the difference to the one whose lot came up in the Galilee .

The beraita continues:

“And it was divided only by lot, as it is stated: ‘only by lot.’”

“And it was divided only through the Urim and Tumim, as it is stated: ‘According to the lot,’”

and the expression “according to” indicates through divine inspiration by means of the Urim and Tumim.

How so?

If it was through the Urim and Tumim, why was a lot necessary; and if it was through a lot, why were the Urim and Tumim necessary? Perhaps they contradict one another ?

Rather,

Eleazar was dressed in the Urim and Tumim, and Joshua and all Israel were standing before him, and a box

containing twelve slips of paper and the names

of the tribes were written on them, and a box

containing the names

of the districts

of the twelve portions of the Land of Israel

were placed before him. And he would direct his mind through divine inspiration and say: “Zebulun has come up; the district of Akko has come up with it ,”

He drew a lot from the box of the tribes, and Zebulun came up in his hand; he drew a lot from the box of the districts, and the district of Akko came up in his hand.

And he would again direct his mind through divine inspiration and say: “Naphtali has come up, and the district of Gennesaret has come up with it.”

He drew a lot from the box of the tribes, and Naphtali came up in his hand; he drew a lot from the box of the districts, and the district of Gennesaret came up in his hand.

And so with each and every tribe .

And not like the division of this world is the division of the World to Come. [That is to say, the division of the land in the days of the Messiah, at the time of the Third Temple].

In this world, a person has a grain field

[for produce],

but he does not have an orchard field; and one who has an orchard field does not have a grain field .

In the World to Come, there is not one individual who does not have [a portion] in the mountain, in the lowland, and in the valley.

As it is stated: “One gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.”

That is to say, all will be equal in their portions: whatever one has, the other has.

And so in the future

the Holy One, blessed be He, will divide it among them Himself. As it is stated: “And these are their divisions, declares the Lord.”

That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself will say to each and every one what his portion is . Thus far the beraita.

In any event,

it was taught, at least: “At first it was divided only among twelve tribes.” Learn from it that it was divided among the tribes.

And we conclude: Indeed,

learn from it.

We learned in the beraita above:

The Master said: “The Land of Israel is destined to be divided among thirteen tribes.”

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

What about the other one?

Who will receive the thirteenth portion?

And although in the division of the land in the days of the Messiah the tribe of Levi will also receive a portion in the land , nevertheless Manasseh and Ephraim will receive only one portion, as it is written, “One gate of Joseph.” If so, there are not thirteen tribes here, but only twelve?

The Gemara answers:

Rav Hisda said:

They will give an additional portion

to the prince.

For it is written: “And the one who works for the city

[that is, the prince, upon whom the burden of managing the city rests],

they shall work for him

[they shall give him an inheritance]

from all the tribes of Israel .”

Rav Pappa said to Abaye:

From where do we know that “they shall work for him” means that they shall give him an inheritance?

Perhaps it means day-laborers

in general

[perhaps they will hire day laborers to serve him], but they will not give him an inheritance?

And he answers:

It cannot enter your mind

to explain it in this way

. For it is written: “And what remains for the prince, from this and from that,

[that he receives a portion from all the tribes],

for the sacred offering and for the possession of the city.”

We further learned in that beraita:

“And it was divided only for monies, as it is stated: ‘between the large and the small.’”

And we examined it:

For what purpose?

In what case would they pay this money to one another?

If you say, for the superior and inferior [land],

[if you say that they divided the land completely equally, without distinguishing between good land and poor land, and one who received good land would pay the difference to the owner of the poor land].

This cannot be said, for

are we dealing with fools

[that they would agree to receive money in place of good land] ?!

Rather,

certainly they divided the land according to its value. One who received poor land would receive more, up to the value of the superior land. But one whose lot came up for

a

portion of land

close

to Jerusalem would pay money to one whose lot

came up

in land

distant,

even though the two were equal in their fertility.

For the distant land is inferior to the close land in two respects: first, because it is distant from the Temple; and furthermore, because it is close to the land of the nations, and one must beware of them.

And this law stated in the beraita is

[subject] to a dispute among the tannaim.

[That is to say, it depends upon the dispute among the tannaim below]:

Rabbi Eliezer says: They increased it with money.

That is to say, they paid with money the difference between the close land and the distant land.

Rabbi Joshua says: They increased it with land.

And one who received distant land received more land.

We further learned in that same beraita:

“And it was divided only by lot, as it is stated: ‘only by lot.’”

And concerning this

a tannai taught

elsewhere:

“‘Only by lot’—Joshua and Caleb were excluded,”

for their portions did not come up by lot.

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

For what purpose?

If you say that they did not take any [portion] at all, now that they took what was not theirs

[for they took the portions of the spies and the complainers, as above, 117b],

is it necessary to say that they took what was theirs?!

Rather, they did not take

their portions

by lot, but according to the word of the Lord.

And from where do we know that they did not take them by lot?

Joshua—as it is written: “According to the word of the Lord they gave him the city that he requested, Timnat-Serah in the mountain of Ephraim.”