Going By the Book

When we play in live poker tournaments and bring up the things of God, we often encourage players to read the Bible. One recent night, we mentioned you might find some surprising things there.

What kind of surprising things? We could list many -- and in fact, one journalist did in a recent eye-opening book. One item on Joe Kovacs's list admittedly threw us for a moment -- the claim that "God ran lotteries."

Plenty of people who gamble in poker cash games also play lottery games, especially at bars. But lots were used in Bible times for more serious matters -- such as who would replace Judas Iscariot among the 12 disciples.

Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. -- Acts 1:26

The followers of Jesus did this to seek God's will in a matter -- a little different from the purpose many modern gamblers have for playing a cash game.

Other examples of lot-casting can be found in I Chronicles 26 and Nehemiah 11. But we won't quote those in detail here. Read those sections of the Bible for yourself. As we say, you might be surprised.