1. Introduction
The term “goral,” often translated as “lot” or “portion” is used by the author of Jonah to describe the divination the sailors and Jonah take part in during the great storm. This word is used frequently throughout the Old Testament and occasionally in the New Testament. Jonah 1:7 in its Masoretic and Septuagint form will be used as a key for understanding its biblical usage. This is, however, not the word used in Esther to denote a stone of divination, which instead favors the term Hb “pur.” The LXX transliterates Hb “pur” to Gr “four,” rather than translating it typically as Gr “kleros.” This short essay will look at some typical OT usage for Hb “goral” and LXX and NT usage of Gr “kleros,” in contrast to Hb and Gr Esther’s usage of Hb “pur” and Gr “four.”
2. Lexical and Linguistic Background
In Jonah 1:7, the word translated “lot” is Hb “goral.” In the Septuagint, this word is then translated Gr “kleros.” Gr “kleros” is also the typical form for the NT usage. According to Strongs, “goral” comes from a root meaning rough, and Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon estimates it to be a small stone for throwing, specifically for understanding the will of the gods. As seen throughout biblical usage, the throwing down of goral can also rightly be used to understand the will of God. Gesenius notes that goral is used with verbs typically understood to relate to tossing downward, as though throwing dice and also pairs Hb “goral” with Gr “kleros.” GR “Kleros” is a very typical verb for translating Hb “goral” in the Septuagint, occurring 132 times in the LXX. It is also used 13 times in the NT to refer to lots.
3. Goral and Kleros in the Bible
The words Hb “goral” and GR “kleros” are the typical words used to denote the activity of casting lots. A brief survey of its typical usage will be shown below. All Scripture quotations are from the NKJV.
Proverbs 16:33 – “The [MT goral/ LXX kleros] is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
Joshua 18:10 – “Then Joshua cast [MT goralot/LXX klerous] for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.”
Leviticus 16:8 – “Then Aaron shall cast [MT goralot/LXX klerous] for the two goats: one [MT goral/ LXX kleros] for the Lord and the other [MT goral/ LXX kleros] for the scapegoat.”
1 Samuel 14:42 – “And Saul said, ‘Cast [goralot] between my son Jonathan and me.’ So Jonathan was taken.”
Joel 3:3a – “They have cast [goralot] for My people…”
Acts 1:26 – “And they cast their [klerous], and the [kleros] fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”
This brief survey shows the typical word for divining the will of the gods or God by the throwing of stones is goral (pl. goralot) and kleros (pl. klerous).
4. Movement Away from Goral in Esther
While goral is the typical word used throughout the Bible, and the word typically translated into Greek as kleros, the book of Esther, which centers on the ordination of the festival of Purim, uses Hb “pur” to refer to the lot, or cast stone. This is explained in Esther 3:7, which says, “They threw [pur], that is, the [goral].” The two are directly associated as the same religious item. In fact, the two words are transliterated or translated as Gr “four” and Gr “kleros,” respectively. This Hb “pur” is consistently transliterated as Gr “four” throughout LXX Esther. This is likely because the translator noticed the significance this essay highlights: The Hb “pur” had a religious significance, being concreted in the festival of Purim.
6. Synthesis and Conclusion
The typical word for a stone used to divine the will of the gods is Hb “goral” and Gr “kleros.” Esther, in contrast to this, uses the Hb “pur.” Due to the location of Esther, in Persia, it is likely Hb “pur” did not originate from Hebrew, though the Hebrew word “Purim” uses a Hebrew masculine plural ending, unlike Aramaic or other national languages. Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon estimates this to be a loanword from the Persic, “pareh,” a portion, or “behreh,” a part. All of the evidence so far, including the consistency throughout Scripture toward Hb “goral,” the avoidance of translation in the LXX in favor of transliterating Gr “four,” the internal explanation to a Hebrew audience of “pur,” the location of the story of Esther, and the preference of the NT toward Gr “kleros” opposed to Gr “four” all indicate Hb “pur” is likely a loan word, possibly from Persic.
