Its landed estate will be distributed to it according to what the lot says. (Bemidbar 22:11-12)
“According to what the lot says” – The lot would speak, as I explained. This teaches that Eretz Yisrael was divided up according to Ruach Hakodesh. (Rashi)
Drawing lots as a way of deciding how to divvy something up would seem to be a natural, mundane process. There are X number of eligible recipients, and there are the same number of paper slips in a box, and each person blindly selects whatever slip comes up in his hand. The results would seem to be by chance.
But we see here that Eretz Yisrael was distributed among the tribes according to the lot, the goral, and this shows that a decision made by goral is actually something that Hashem Himself does.
Why lots? Because each tribe will naturally want to receive the choicest areas. Everyone will want the seashore, and no one will want the desert, for instance. So there is a necessity for a decision made by Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself. And how does Hakadosh Baruch Hu render a decision of this type?
By lots. As Chazal say, the lots were an expression of Ruach Hakodesh.
We see the same thing regarding the two goats of Yom Kippur. One goes as a korban to Hashem, and the other goes to Azazel, which means that it goes to Eisav, to the side of evil. Now, there is no kohen who can take a goat and send it to Eisav. Only Hashem can do that, which is why the mitzvah is to choose the goat by means of goral.
The goral shows up also in Sefer Yehoshua. In chapter seven of that Sefer, we have the story of the conquest of the city Ai, during the course of which many Jews were killed, in the first disastrous battle. This initial defeat was because someone had previously taken booty for himself from forbidden goods, but it wasn’t known who did it.
How did they find out?
Yehoshua held a drawing of lots, and the lot fell on Achan. He was the one who appropriated the forbidden booty.
Achan argued that since everyone’s name was placed in the goral, it was inevitable that someone’s name would come out, and that doesn’t prove he is the one who actually did it.
So Yehoshua told him:
“My son, please give honor to Hashem the G-d of Yisrael.”
Yehoshua asked him to admit the truth, that he actually did it, and not besmirch the goral. Because the goral is the word of Hashem.
All this shows that the most pointed expression of a direct action of Hashem is when it takes place through “natural” means, such as by drawing lots.
