Joshua 7:14

according to your tribes Each tribe was divided into families; each family into houses; each house into persons.

the tribe which the Lord taketh i.e. by the sacred lot. We find the lots used (a) for the detection of a criminal here, and in the case of Jonathan (1 Samuel 14:42, and Jonah 1:7); (b) in the choice of men for an invading force (Judges 1:1; Judges 20:10); (c) in the partition of land (Numbers 26:55; Joshua 18:10; 1Ma 3:36); (d) in the assignment to foreigners or captors of spoils or prisoners (Joel 3:3; Nahum 3:10); (e) in the selection of the scapegoat on the day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:8); (f) in the settlement of doubtful questions (Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 18:18). The custom was of great antiquity and widely spread, and "recommended itself as a sort of appeal to the Almighty, secure from all influence of passion or bias." In Homer we find it employed by the gods themselves (Il. 22:209; Cic. de Div. 1. 34, 11. 41), and the Romans had their lots in divisions (sortes divisoriœ) and elections (sors urbanaand peregrina) in the choice of a prætor.