Bava Batra 122a (קכב.) — the Talmud in English

And we resolved it:

Come and hear

the Torah states: “According to the lot shall his inheritance be apportioned

between the numerous and the few.””

That is, all the tribes received an equal share, whether it was a tribe with few people or one with a large population. Consequently, the portions of the members of the smaller tribe were larger than those of the larger tribe.

And it was also taught

explicitly in a beraita that Eretz Yisrael was divided according to the tribes:

“Eretz Yisrael is destined to be divided among thirteen tribes, as will be explained below].

At the outset,

Initially,

when they entered the Land,

it was divided only among twelve tribes ,

And it was divided only with regard to money, as it is stated: ‘between the numerous and the few.’”

The Gemara explains: What does “with regard to money” mean?

Rabbi Yehuda said: A se'a in Judea is worth five se'a in the Galilee,

and therefore one who received a se'a in Judea paid the difference to the one whose portion fell to him 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 VeTumim, as it is stated: ‘According to the lot,’

and the expression “according to” indicates that it was through Divine Inspiration, by means of the Urim VeTumim.

How so?

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

Rather,

Eleazar, wearing the Urim VeTumim, stood with Joshua and all Israel before him, and a box

[a chest] containing twelve slips of paper with the names

of the tribes written on them, and a box

containing the names

of the regions

[the twelve portions of Eretz Yisrael]

were placed before him. He would direct his mind through Divine Inspiration and say: ‘Zebulun’s portion has come up; the region of Acre has come up with it .’

He drew a lot from the box of the tribes, and Zebulun came up for him; he drew a lot from the box of the regions, and the region of Acre came up for him.

And he again directed his mind through Divine Inspiration and said: ‘Naphtali’s portion has come up, and the region of Gennesaret has come up with it.’

He drew a lot from the box of the tribes, and Naphtali came up for him; he drew a lot from the box of the regions, and the region of Gennesaret came up for him.

And so with each and every tribe .

But the division of the World to Come will not be like the division in this world. [That is, the division of the Land in the days of the Messiah, at the time of the Third Temple].

In this world, if a person has a field suitable for grain

[grain],

he does not have an orchard; and if he has an orchard, he does not have a field suitable for grain .

In the World to Come, there will not be a single person who does not have land in the mountain, in the lowland, and in the valley.

As it is stated: ‘One gate for Reuben, one gate for Judah, one gate for Levi.’

That is, all will be equal in their portions; whatever one has, the other will have as well.

And likewise, in the future

the Holy One, blessed be He, will apportion the Land to them Himself. As it is stated: ‘And these are their divisions, says the Lord.’

That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself will tell each and every person what his portion is . This concludes the beraita.

In any event,

it is taught at least: ‘Initially, it was divided only among twelve tribes.’ Conclude from it that it was divided according to the tribes.

And we conclude: Indeed,

conclude from it.

We learned in the aforementioned beraita:

The Master said: ‘Eretz Yisrael is destined to be divided among thirteen tribes.’

The Gemara asks:

For whom is the other portion?

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 for Joseph.” If so, there are not thirteen tribes here, but only twelve?

The Gemara answers:

Rav Ḥisda said:

They will give the additional portion

to the prince.

As it is written: ‘And the one who serves the city

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

they shall serve 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 serve him” means that they will give him an inheritance?

Perhaps it means a day-laborer

in general

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

And he answered:

It cannot enter your mind

to interpret it in this manner

. As it is written: ‘And what remains for the prince on this side and on that side,

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

for the contribution of the Sanctuary and for the possession of the city.’”

We further learned in the aforementioned beraita:

“And it was divided only with regard to money, as it is stated: ‘between the numerous and the few.’”

And we raise a difficulty:

For what purpose?

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

If you say, it was for the superior and inferior land,

[that is, if you say that they divided the Land equally in the literal sense, without distinguishing between good land and poor land, and one who received good land paid the difference to the owner of the inferior land],

that cannot be said, for

are we dealing with fools

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

Rather,

they certainly divided the Land according to its value. One who received inferior land received a larger area, up to the value of superior land. But one whose lot fell

to

land

close

to Jerusalem paid money to one whose lot

fell

on land

distant,

even though the two were equal in fertility.

This is because distant land was inferior to nearby land in two respects: first, because it was distant from the Temple, and second, because it was close to the lands of the nations, from whom one had to be wary.

And this law stated in the beraita is

subject to a dispute between tanna’im.

[That is, it depends on the dispute between the tanna’im below]:

Rabbi Eliezer says: They compensated with money.

That is, they paid in money the difference between nearby and distant land.

Rabbi Yehoshua says: They compensated with land.

One who received distant land received a larger area.

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 tanna

taught elsewhere:

“‘Only by lot’—this excludes Joshua and Caleb,

who did not receive their portions by lot.”

The Gemara asks:

For what purpose?

If you say that they did not receive anything at all, now that they received what was not theirs

[for they received the portions of the spies and the complainers, as stated above, on 117b],

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

Rather, they did not receive

their portions

by lot, but by the word of the Lord.

And from where do we know that they did not receive their portions by lot?

With regard to Joshua, as it is written: ‘By the word of the Lord they gave him the city that he requested, Timnath-Serah in the mountain of Ephraim.’