Casting the Lot in the Bible vs. Ifá Divination: Rediscovering African Spiritual Technology

Discover the deep parallels between casting lots in the Bible and Ifá divination in Yoruba spirituality. Explore African indigenous religion, Odu Ifá’s binary logic, and why African spirituality is the ancestral compass for Africans today.

1. Introduction

 Why Compare Casting Lots and Ifá Divination?

For centuries, colonial narratives painted African traditional religion and Ifá divination as primitive or demonic. This mindset alienated Africans from their own spiritual technology, while making foreign religions like Christianity and Islam the default spiritual frameworks.

In recent timea, Africans have been told directly and indirectly that our indigenous spiritual systems are evil, primitive, and incompatible with “true” religion. Colonial and missionary narratives succeeded in reprogramming our perception of our own ancestors, replacing ancestral reverence with fear and shame.

This isn’t about demonizing Christianity or Islam; both are profound systems in their own cultural contexts. But they are not African in origin. They were not born from our rivers, our soil our ancestoral experience. 

If you tell an average African today to pay homage to their ancestors, like to acknowledge Òrìṣà like Èṣù, Ọ̀ṣun, or Ṣàngó, many will reflexively say:

 “God forbid! I cannot worship an idol.”

Ironically, some of these same people kneel before statues of the Virgin Mary, kiss crucifixes, or pray facing Mecca, which are all physical, symbolic representations of divine mysteries. The issue is not imagery or physical forms, but it’s conditioning.

This article is not an invitation to idol worship. It is a call to reconsider, re-examine, and re-honour our indigenous systems of divine guidance systems that shaped civilizations long before colonization. Systems that are still capable of guiding us through our modern challenges.

This article bridges two worlds, casting lots in the Bible and Ifá divination in Yoruba spirituality to show that both are sacred ways of seeking divine guidance, but Ifá is the one rooted in African cosmology.

2. Casting Lots in the Bible — A Sacred Decision-Making Tool

Casting lots appears throughout the Old and New Testaments as a way of discerning God’s will. Key examples include:

Joshua 18:6 — Determining land allocation among the tribes of Israel.

Jonah 1:7 — Identifying who caused the storm.

Acts 1:26 — Choosing Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot.

Casting lots was not seen as superstition. It was a sacred method to allow divine will to override human bias. In Acts 1:26, for instance, the apostles cast lots to choose Matthias as Judas’ replacement, trusting that God’s choice would be revealed through the outcome.

In essence, biblical lot-casting was a structured, ritualized way of asking:

“God, what is Your will in this matter?”

In each case, casting lots was not gambling. It was an act of biblical decision-making rooted in faith that God would guide the outcome.

In essence, the question being asked was:

“God, reveal Your will beyond human bias.”

3. What Is Ifá Divination? The Yoruba System of Ancestral Guidance

Ifá is the divination system of the Yoruba people, an intricate, binary-based oracle that has been refined over thousands of years. At its heart are the 256 Odù Ifá, which function as archetypal “signatures” of divine wisdom, each containing countless verses (ese) with guidance for every possible human situation.

The process:

1. A Babaláwo (priest) uses sacred tools like ikin (palm nuts) or opele (divining chain).

2. The pattern generated corresponds to one of the 256 specific Odu Ifá.

3. That Odu contains stories, proverbs, and instructions for resolving the seeker’s problem. The Odù carries a corpus of wisdom and parables relevant to the client’s situation.

Like biblical lot-casting, Ifá is not random guessing; Ifá is a sacred interface between humans and divine will. it is a structured spiritual technology linking human life to Orí. The difference is that Ifá is embedded in a full cosmology one that connects the seeker to their Orí (personal destiny), their ancestors, and the spiritual forces governing the natural world.

4. Similarities Between Casting Lots in the Bible and Ifá Divination

1. Purpose: Both seek divine will through sacred ritual. Neither is mere guessing; they are structured acts of faith.

2. Tools: Biblical lots and Yoruba ikin/opele serve as physical mediums. Lots use stones, or marked objects in the Bible; while we use ikin or opele in Ifá.

3. Bias Removal: Decisions are left to divine authority, not personal preference. Both remove human bias while decisions are entrusted to a higher power.

4. Sacred Context: Both are conducted in ritual spaces or before witnesses. Both are communal in a sacred context i.e, casting lots often happened before witnesses; Ifá readings are performed in ritual spaces.

5. Differences Between Ifá and Biblical Lot-Casting

1. Scope & Complexity – Casting lots in the Bible is primarily for decision-making in specific moments. Ifá is a complete spiritual technology with a cosmology, ethics, and a philosophy of life.

2. Cultural Context – Biblical lot-casting emerges from Hebrew tradition; Ifá is born from Yoruba cosmology, tied to African landscapes, deities, and ancestral energies.

3. Continuity – Lot-casting has largely disappeared from modern Christian practice; Ifá is still a living tradition, passed through oral and practical lineage.

6. Why African Spirituality Is the Natural Compass for Africans

Our indigenous systems, whether Ifá among the Yoruba, Afa among the Ewe, or Dinka divination in South Sudan, they are all rooted in our environment, history, and collective psyche. They were forged to address the very realities we live in:

Our relationship to the land and its seasons.

Our communal approach to life.

Our ancestral lineage and intergenerational responsibilities.

Colonial religions often redirect African spiritual energy toward distant geographies and foreign narratives. Ifá grounds us in our soil, our sky, our rivers, our ancestors. It speaks to us in our proverbs, our symbols, our metaphors, in ways that resonate in our bones.

7. The Technological Genius of Ifá

It may surprise some to know that the binary logic underlying modern computing mirrors the logic of the 256 Odù Ifá.

In computing: 1s and 0s create complex codes.

In Ifá: Open and closed marks create Odù patterns.

This is not a coincidence, but it is proof that African thought systems are highly advanced. Ifá is not a “primitive religion” but a spiritual technology, a timeless algorithm for understanding life’s complexities.

8. Personal Insights — Reconciling the Bible and Ifá

Growing up, I was told that anything connected to Òrìṣà or ancestors was demonic. But as I studied both the Bible and Ifá, I began to see the parallels. I realized that both traditions recognized the need to surrender human will to divine will, but only the language and symbols differed.

When I engage with Ifá, I’m not abandoning God, but I’m engaging with God through a channel my ancestors knew well. I’m standing on a spiritual foundation designed for my context, my history, and my destiny.

9. Conclusion — Returning to Our Spiritual Roots

Casting lots in the Bible and Ifá divination are not enemies they are relatives in the great family of humanity’s quest for divine guidance. But for Africans, Ifá is home. It is the language of our ancestors, the blueprint of our culture, and a map for navigating life’s challenges in harmony with our environment and destiny.

To reject Ifá is to reject a part of ourselves. To embrace it is not to reject Christianity or Islam but to remember who we are, where we come from, and the spiritual technologies our ancestors left for us.

One day, we too will become ancestors. What will our descendants say about us? Did we pass down the wisdom, or did we bury it under foreign fear?

The choice, as always, is ours.

In a nutshell, casting lots in the Bible and Ifá divination are not opposites; they are cousins in humanity’s quest for divine direction. For Africans, Ifá is our ancestral compass, a sacred GPS calibrated to our culture, land, and destiny.

To reject Ifá is to reject part of ourselves. To embrace it is to honor the wisdom of our forebears and pass it to future generations.