We begin with a new Mishna that teaches us about rounding up and rounding down. If a person sells a beit kor of land (the amount needed to sow a particular amount of produce) within given borders but the sale is actually one sixth or less of a beit kor, the sale is nullified. If the land is actually more than a beit kor minus one-sixth, then the sale holds.
The Gemara outlines rabbis' arguments about whether or not these decisions to round up or down are valid. They draw on other decisions to add weight to their opinions. One of the more convincing arguments regards a person who knows that the sale is less generous than one-sixth less the measure given. If the buyer went though with the sale anyway, why should the sale be nullified after the fact? Even if the seller misrepresented the measure that he was selling, why should we pursue justice if the buyer acquiesced with full knowledge of the misrepresentation?
Amud (b) shares a comparison between the division of property in a sale with division of inherited property among brothers. That would include a lottery, or even more than one lottery, to ensure that brothers were considered according to their presence at the time and according to their birth order. The rabbis use the division of the land of Israel as a further site of comparison. It would be important for such a division to include other factors including the urim v'tumim, the names/letters listed on the High Priest's breastplate.
Knowledge of one part of the Talmud requires knowledge of all parts of the Talmud. The rabbis were able to refer to related arguments in disparate parts of the Talmud with fluidity and fluency. To watch these conversations move from one sub-argument to another is overwhelming for those of us who are only able to grasp one small part of one argument at any one given moment.
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