As the Israelites prepare to enter the Land of Israel, God issues complex instructions regarding how the territory will be divided among them. Although Moses receives these directions, the actual implementation is meant for Joshua and the elders [אור החיים, שפתי כהן]. God speaks to Moses as if Moses will personally distribute the land to teach a profound principle: a person's student is considered an extension of themselves. As long as Joshua lives and carries out these duties, it is considered as though Moses himself is fulfilling the command [שפתי כהן].
The distribution relies on a unique legal concept in the laws of inheritance, where the deceased inherit from the living. The land is actually divided based on the original census of the generation that left Egypt. That generation theoretically receives the land and then passes it down to their children who are actually entering it. This method fulfills His promise to give the land as a permanent heritage to those who experienced the Exodus, allowing them to pass their rightful property to their descendants [שפתי כהן].
A central tool in determining the distribution is a divine lottery. Eleazar the Priest conducts this lottery while guided by divine inspiration through the Urim and Thummim, announcing which region goes to each tribe. There is even a tradition that the lottery itself would miraculously speak to declare the results [שפתי כהן].
A broad discussion arises regarding the exact role of this lottery compared to human judgment, specifically addressing the tension between dividing the land equally among the tribes or proportionally based on population size [אברבנאל]. One approach suggests the land is divided strictly by population, with the lottery merely serving as divine confirmation of the arrangement [רש״י, מובא באברבנאל]. Another perspective argues for a two-stage process: the land is first split into twelve equal portions for the tribes, and then divided internally within each tribe according to their specific numbers [רמב״ן, מובא באברבנאל].
A third viewpoint completely separates the location of the land from its size. In this view, the lottery is used exclusively to assign the geographic region for each tribe, preventing arguments over the quality of the soil or the terrain. However, the actual size of each territory is not left to the lottery. Instead, Joshua and the tribal leaders determine the borders based on how many people are in each tribe. This explains how larger tribes could later approach Joshua to demand more space, as the allocation of land size is entrusted to his personal discretion [אברבנאל].
Excluded from this entire system of territorial distribution is the Tribe of Levi. Their census is recorded separately because they do not receive a physical inheritance in the Land of Israel alongside the rest of the nation [שפתי כהן].