1And the heads of the fathers of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 2And they spoke to them in Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded by the hand of Moses to give cities to us to live in, and their open land for our livestock. 3And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance these cities and their open land, at the mouth of Jehovah: 4And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. 5And the rest of the sons of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. 6And the sons of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. 7The sons of Merari by their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. 8And the sons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their open land, as Jehovah commanded by the hand of Moses. 9And they gave out of the tribe of the sons of Judah, and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, these cities which are called by name, 10which the sons of Aaron had, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the sons of Levi. For theirs was the first lot. 11And they gave them the City of Arba, the father of Anak (which is Hebron) in the hills of Judah, with its open lands around it. 12But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his own. 13So they gave Hebron and its open lands to the sons of Aaron the priest as a city of refuge for the slayer, and Libnah and its open lands, 14and Jattir and its open lands, and Eshtemoa and its open lands, 15and Holon and its open lands, and Debir and its open lands, 16and Ain and its open lands, and Juttah and its open lands, and Beth-shemesh and its open lands; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon and its open lands, Geba and its open lands, 18Anathoth and its open lands, and Almon and its open lands; four cities. 19And all the cities of the sons of Aaron the priest were thirteen cities and their open land. 20And the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites who were left of the sons of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21And they gave them Shechem and its open land in Mount Ephraim as a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer and its open lands, 22and Kibzaim and its open lands, and Beth-horon and its open lands; four cities. 23And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its open lands, Gibbethon and its open lands, 24Aijalon and its open lands, Gathrimmon and its open lands; four cities. 25And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its open lands, and Gathrimmon and its open lands; two cities. 26All the cities were ten, and their open land, for the families of the sons of Kohath that were left. 27And to the sons of Gershon, of the families of the Levites from the half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan and its open lands as a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beesh-terah and its open lands; two cities. 28And from the tribe of Issachar they gave Kishon and its open lands, and Daberath and its open lands, 29Jarmuth and its open lands, En-gannim and its open lands; four cities. 30And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its open lands, Abdon and its open lands, 31Helkath and its open lands, Rehob and its open lands; four cities. 32And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee and its open lands as a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammothdor and its open lands, and Kartan, and its open lands; three cities. 33All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities and their open land. 34And to the families of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, they gave Jokneam and its open lands, and Kartah and its open lands, 35Dimnah and its open lands, Nahalal and its open lands; four cities. 36And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its open lands, and Jahazah and its open lands, 37Kedemoth and its open lands, and Mephaath and its open lands; four cities. 38And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead and its open lands as a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim and its open lands, 39Heshbon and its open lands, Jazer and its open lands; four cities in all. 40All the cities for the sons of Merari by their families, those left of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities. 41All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the sons of Israel were fortyeight cities and their open land. 42These cities were every one with their open land around them. So it was to all these cities. 43And Jehovah gave to Israel all the land which He swore to give to their fathers. And they possessed it, and lived in it. 44And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that He swore to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Jehovah delivered all their enemies into their hand, 45and nor did fail a word from any good word which Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Here is, I. The Levites' petition presented to this general convention of the states, now sitting at Shiloh,
Josh 21:1,
Josh 21:2. Observe, 1. They had not their lot assigned them till they made their claim. There is an inheritance provided for all the saints, that royal priesthood, but then they must petition for it.
Ask, and it shall be given you. Joshua had quickened the rest of the tribes who were slack to put in their claims, but the Levites, it may be supposed, knew their duty and interest better than the rest, and were therefore forward in this matter, when it came to their turn, without being called upon. They build their claim upon a very good foundation, not their own merits nor services, but the divine precept:
The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities, commanded you to grant them, which implied a command to us to ask them. Note, The maintenance of ministers is not an arbitrary thing, left purely to the good-will of the people, who may let them starve if they please; no, as the God of Israel commanded that the Levites should be well provided for, so has the Lord Jesus, the King of the Christian church, ordained, and a perpetual ordinance it is that
those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel (
1Cor 9:14), and should live comfortably. 2. They did not make their claim till all the rest of the tribes were provided for, and then they did it immediately. There was some reason for it; every tribe must first know their own, else they would not know what they gave the Levites, and so it could not be such a reasonable service as it ought to be. But it is also an instance of their humility, modesty, and patience (and Levites should be examples of these and other virtues), that they were willing to be served last, and they fared never the worse for it. Let not God's ministers complain if at any time they find themselves postponed in men's thoughts and cares, but let them make sure of the favour of God and the honour that comes from him, and then they may well enough afford to bear the slights and neglects of men.
II. The Levites' petition granted immediately, without any dispute, the princes of Israel being perhaps ashamed that they needed to be called upon in this matter, and that the motion had not been made among themselves for the settling of the Levites. 1. The children of Israel are said to give the cities for the Levites. God had appointed how many they should be in all, forty-eight. It is probable that Joshua and the princes, upon consideration of the extent and value of the lot of each tribe as it was laid before them, had appointed how many cities should be taken out of each; and then the fathers of the several tribes themselves agreed which they should be, and therefore are said to give them, as an offering, to the Lord; so God had appointed.
Num 35:8,
Every one shall give of his cities to the Levites. Here God tried their generosity, and it was found to praise and honour, for it appears by the following catalogue that the cities they gave to the Levites were generally some of the best and most considerable in each tribe. And it is probable that they had an eye to the situation of them, taking care they should be so dispersed as that no part of the country should be too far distant from a Levites' city. 2. They gave them
at the commandment of the Lord, that is, with an eye to the command and in obedience to it, which was it that sanctified the grant. They gave the number that God commanded, and it was well this matter was settled that the Levites might not ask more nor the Israelites offer less. They gave them also with their suburbs, or glebe-lands, belonging to them, so many cubits by measure from the walls of the city, as God had commanded (
Num 35:4,
Num 35:5), and did not go about to cut them short. 3. When the forty-eight cities were pitched upon, they were divided into four lots, as they lay next together, and then by lot were determined to the four several families of the tribe of Levi. When the Israelites had surrendered the cities into the hand of God, he would himself have the distributing of them among his servants. (1.) The family of Aaron, who were the only priests, had for their share the thirteen cities that were given by the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin,
Josh 21:4. God in wisdom ordered it thus, that though Jerusalem itself was not one of their cities, it being as yet in the possession of the Jebusites (and those generous tribes would not mock the Levites, who had another warfare to mind, with a city that must be recovered by the sword before it could be enjoyed), yet the cities that fell to their lot were those which lay next to Jerusalem, because that was to be, in process of time, the holy city, where their business would chiefly lie. (2.) The Kohathite-Levites (among whom were the posterity of Moses, though never distinguished from them) had the cities that lay in the lot of Dan, which lay next to Judah, and in that of Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, which lay next to Benjamin. So those who descended from Aaron's father joined nearest to Aaron's sons. (3.) Gershon was the eldest son of Levi, and therefore, though the younger house of the Kohathites was preferred before his, yet his children had the precedency of the other family of Merari,
Josh 21:6. (4.) The Merarites, the youngest house, had their lot last, and it lay furthest off,
Josh 21:7. The rest of the sons of Jacob had a lot for every tribe only, but Levi, God's tribe, had a lot for each of its families; for there is a particular providence directing and attending the removals and settlements of ministers, and appointing where those shall fix who are to be the lights of the world.
9 We have here a particular account of the cities which were given to the children of Levi out of the several tribes, not only to be occupied and inhabited by them, as tenants to the several tribes in which they lay - no, their interest in them was not dependent and precarious, but to be owned and possessed by them as lords and proprietors, and as having the same title to them that the rest of the tribes had to their cities or lands, as appears by the law which preserved the house in the Levites' cities from being alienated any longer than till the year of jubilee,
Lev 25:32,
Lev 25:33. Yet it is probable that the Levites having only the cities and suburbs, while the land about pertained to the tribes in which they lay, those of that tribe, for the convenience of occupying that land, might commonly rent houses of the Levites, as they could spare them in their cities, and so live among them as their tenants. Several things may be observed in this account, besides what was observed in the law concerning it, Num. 35.
I. That the Levites were dispersed into all the tribes, and not suffered to live all together in any one part of the country. This would find them all with work, and employ them all for the good of others; for ministers, of all people, must neither be idle nor live to themselves or to one another only. Christ left his twelve disciples together in a body, but left orders that they should in due time disperse themselves, that they might
preach the gospel to every creature. The mixing of the Levites thus with the other tribes would be an obligation upon them to walk circumspectly, and as became their sacred function, and to avoid every thing that might disgrace it. Had they lived all together, they would have been tempted to wink at one another's faults, and to excuse one another when they did amiss; but by this means they were made to see the eyes of all Israel upon them, and therefore saw it their concern to walk so as that their ministry might in nothing be blamed nor their high character suffer by their ill carriage.
II. That every tribe of Israel was adorned and enriched with its share of Levites' cities in proportion to its compass, even those that lay most remote. They were all God's people, and therefore they all had Levites among them. 1. To show kindness to, as God appointed them,
Deut 12:19;
Deut 14:29. They were God's receivers, to whom the people might give their grateful acknowledgments of God's goodness, as the occasion and disposition were. 2. To receive advice and instruction from; when they could not go up to the tabernacle, to consult those who attended there, they might go to a Levites' city, and be taught the good knowledge of the Lord. Thus God set up a candle in every room of his house, to give light to all his family; as those that attended the altar
kept the charge of the Lord, to see that no divine appointment was neglected there, so those that were scattered in the country had their charge too, which was to see that no idolatrous superstitious usages were introduced at a distance and to watch for the souls of God's Israel. Thus did God graciously provide for the keeping up of religion among them, and that they might have the word nigh them; yet, blessed be God, we, under the gospel, have it yet nigher, not only Levites in every county, but Levites in every parish, whose office it is still to teach the people knowledge, and to go before them in the things of God.
III. That there were thirteen cities, and those some of the best, appointed for the priests, the sons of Aaron,
Josh 21:19. Aaron left but two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, yet his family was now so much increased, and it was foreseen that it would in process of time grow so numerous, as to replenish all these cities, though a considerable number must of necessity be resident wherever the ark and the altar were. We read in both Testaments of such numbers of priests that we may suppose none of all the families of Israel that came out of Egypt increased afterwards so much as that of Aaron did; and the promise afterwards to the house of Aaron is,
God shall increase you more and more, you and your children, Pss 115:12,
Pss 115:14. He will raise up a
seed to serve him. IV. That some of the Levites' cities were afterwards famous upon other accounts. Hebron was the city in which David began his reign, and in Manhanaim, another Levites' city (
Josh 21:38), he lay, and had his headquarters when he fled from Absalom. The first Israelite that ever wore the title of king (namely, Abimelech, the son of Gideon) reigned in Shechem, another Levites' city,
Josh 21:21.
V. That the number of them in all was more than of most of the tribes, except Judah, though the tribe of Levi was one of the least of the tribes, to show how liberal God is, and his people should be, to his ministers; yet the disproportion will not appear so great as at first it seems, if we consider that the Levites had cities only with their suburbs to dwell in, but the rest of the tribes, besides their cities (and those perhaps were many more than are named in the account of their lot), had many unwalled towns and villages which they inhabited, besides country houses.
Upon the whole, it appears that effectual care was taken that the Levites should live both comfortably and usefully: and those, whether ministers or others, for whom Providence has done well, must look upon themselves as obliged thereby to do good, and, according as their capacity and opportunity are, to serve their generation.
43 We have here the conclusion of this whole matter, the foregoing history summed up, and, to make it appear the more bright, compared with the promise of which it was the full accomplishment. God's word and his works mutually illustrate each other. The performance makes the promise appear very true and the promise makes the performance appear very kind.
I. God had promised to give the seed of Abraham the land of Canaan for a possession, and now at last he performed this promise (
Josh 21:43):
They possessed it, and dwelt therein. Though they had often forfeited the benefit of that promise, and God had long delayed the performance of it, yet at last all difficulties were conquered, and Canaan was their own. And the promise of the heavenly Canaan is as sure to all God's spiritual Israel, for it is the promise of him that cannot lie.
II. God had promised to give them rest in that land, and now they had rest round about, rest from the fatigues of their travel through the wilderness (which tedious march, perhaps, was long in their bones), rest from their wars in Canaan, and the insults which their enemies there had at first offered them. They now dwelt, not only in habitations of their own, but those quiet and peaceable ones; though there were Canaanites that remained, yet none that had either strength or spirit to attack them, nor so much as give them an alarm. This rest continued till they by their own sin and folly put thorns into their own beds and their own eyes.
III. God had promised to give them victory and success in their wars, and this promise likewise was fulfilled:
There stood not a man before them, Josh 21:44. They had the better in every battle, and which way soever they turned their forces they prospered. It is true there were Canaanites now remaining in many parts of the land, and such as afterwards made head against them, and became very formidable. But, 1. As to the present remains of the Canaanites, they were no contradiction to the promise, for God had said he would not drive them out all at once, but by
little and little, Exod 23:30. They had now as much in their full possession as they had occasion for and as they had hands to manage, so that the Canaanites only kept possession of some of the less cultivated parts of the country against the beasts of the field, till Israel, in process of time, should become numerous enough to replenish them. 2. As to the after prevalency of the Canaanites, that was purely the effect of Israel's cowardice and slothfulness, and the punishment of their sinful inclination to the idolatries and other abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord would have cast out before them but that they harboured and indulged them. So that the foundation of God stands sure. Israel's experience of God's fidelity is here upon record, and is an acquittance under their hands to the honour of God, the vindication of his promise which had been so often distrusted, and the encouragement of all believers to the end of the world:
There failed not any good thing, no, nor
aught of any good thing (so full is it expressed),
which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel, but in due time
all came to pass, Josh 21:45. Such an acknowledgment as this, here subscribed by Joshua in the name of all Israel, we afterwards find made by Solomon, and all Israel did in effect say
Amen to it,
1Kgs 8:56. The inviolable truth of God's promise, and the performance of it to the utmost, are what all the saints have been ready to bear their testimony to; and, if in any thing the performance has seemed to come short, they have been as ready to own that they themselves must bear all the blame.
