A great storm threatened the lives of the crew on board Jonah’s getaway ship. They did all they could do to lighten the load to save themselves and the ship. When that failed, they then cried out to the many different religions represented by the crew. None of their gods would help them. Again, they turned to take matters into their own hands and came up with another plan to save themselves. Jonah 1:7 tells us, “And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.” The crew was convinced that the storm they were in was brought on them by someone on board that had violated the commands of their god.a No one would admit to being the guilty party, so they had to find a way to help them identify the culprit. They chose to cast lots. There are several references to casting lots to help with decision-making in the bible. “Before the establishment of a hereditary monarchy, for example, lots were cast in choosing a king. The practice continued into the New Testament period: the Roman soldiers cast lots for the clothes of Jesus, whom they had crucified. When the disciples were seeking a replacement for Judas Iscariot, the lot fell on Matthias.”[1] One website reports that there are “At least 88 accounts of casting lots in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament, and it was something that God did not condemn.”[2]
We still cast lots today. We flip a coin before every football game to see who gets the choice to receive the ball or defend their goal. As kids, we would flip a coin to determine who gets what. We used to play rock, paper, and scissors to settle who gets the last bottle of coke when I was growing up. When the government brought the draft back for the Vietnam War, they cast lots, so to speak, to give each person a number that would indicate the order in which they could be called up. It was supposed to be non-biased, objective means by which men would be sent to war. There is something to be said for flipping a coin or casting lots when making some decisions like these. Even Solomon, the wisest man in the world, supported the practice. He said in Proverbs 18:18, “The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders.” Solomon also says in Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
John Wesley would cast lots or throw the dice, trusting God to determine the outcome of decisions he sometimes had to make. Mormons still use the practice in a way. They are used during “Disciplinary councils to select high councilors who will speak for and against the accused. The exact mechanism, in this case, is to write the names of members of the stake high council on pieces of paper and then draw the names out of a hat or box.”[3] On the other hand, George Whitfield, a contemporary of Wesley, was against the practice. Some will associate lots with witchcraft, consulting a medium, palm reading, and other forbidden practices in the Bible. Most evangelicals today are against it also. One commentator says, “Today, there is no need to cast lots, and most certainly to consult with mediums, palm readers, or diviners is an abomination to God. We have direct access to the throne of heaven by Christ Himself, Who is our Mediator, so there’s no need to cast lots, flip a coin or roll the dice.”[4] It was practiced in the bible. But that in itself does not make it a directive for our lives today. “We must understand the difference between ‘prescriptive’ and ‘descriptive’ material. Prescriptive: information that provides the reader with principles that they are to apply to their lives. Descriptive: incidental material that describes the way something was done but is not necessarily meant to encourage the reader to do the same action.”[5]
[1] Nixon, Rosemary A. 2003. The Message of Jonah: Presence in the Storm. Edited by Alec Motyer, Derek Tidball. The Bible Speaks Today. England: Inter-Varsity Press.
[2] What is Casting Lots? Should Christians Cast Lots Today? (whatchristianswanttoknow.com)
[3] What Is Meant By The “Casting Of Lots?” – FAIR (fairlatterdaysaints.org)
[4] What is Casting Lots? Should Christians Cast Lots Today? (whatchristianswanttoknow.com)
[5] Patton, C. Michael, Seven Common Fallacies of Biblical Interpretation, February 8, 2010, http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2010/02/seven-common-fallacies-of-biblical-interpretation/