Lot

In both the Hebrew and the Greek, the word translated "lot" has the original meaning of a small stone, a bit of wood, or a piece of cord. These small stones, with certain markings on them, were cast down in order to determine a certain person or a certain course of action or a certain piece of ground. The ceremony of casting lots was not gambling or trusting in chance, but was the God-approved way of determining a matter. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the...