TEXT [Commentary]
3. The Levitical cities (21:1-42)
1 Then the leaders of the tribe of Levi came to consult with Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the other tribes of Israel. 2 They came to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us towns to live in and pasturelands for our livestock.” 3 So by the command of the LORD the people of Israel gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own grants of land.
4 The descendants of Aaron, who were members of the Kohathite clan within the tribe of Levi, were allotted thirteen towns that were originally assigned to the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. 5 The other families of the Kohathite clan were allotted ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6 The clan of Gershon was allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 The clan of Merari was allotted twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
8 So the Israelites obeyed the LORD’s command to Moses and assigned these towns and pasturelands to the Levites by casting sacred lots.
9 The Israelites gave the following towns from the tribes of Judah and Simeon 10 to the descendants of Aaron, who were members of the Kohathite clan within the tribe of Levi, since the sacred lot fell to them first: 11 Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, along with its surrounding pasturelands. (Arba was an ancestor of Anak.) 12 But the open fields beyond the town and the surrounding villages were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.
13 The following towns with their pasturelands were given to the descendants of Aaron the priest: Hebron (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Libnah, 14 Jattir, Eshtemoa, 15 Holon, Debir, 16 Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine towns from these two tribes.
17 From the tribe of Benjamin the priests were given the following towns with their pasturelands: Gibeon, Geba, 18 Anathoth, and Almon—four towns. 19 So in all, thirteen towns with their pasturelands were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
20 The rest of the Kohathite clan from the tribe of Levi was allotted the following towns and pasturelands from the tribe of Ephraim: 21 Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Gezer, 22 Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four towns.
23 The following towns and pasturelands were allotted to the priests from the tribe of Dan: Eltekeh, Gibbethon, 24 Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four towns.
25 The half-tribe of Manasseh allotted the following towns with their pasturelands to the priests: Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two towns. 26 So in all, ten towns with their pasturelands were given to the rest of the Kohathite clan.
27 The descendants of Gershon, another clan within the tribe of Levi, received the following towns with their pasturelands from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone) and Be-eshterah—two towns.
28 From the tribe of Issachar they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Kishion, Daberath, 29 Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four towns.
30 From the tribe of Asher they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Mishal, Abdon, 31 Helkath, and Rehob—four towns.
32 From the tribe of Naphtali they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three towns. 33 So in all, thirteen towns with their pasturelands were allotted to the clan of Gershon.
34 The rest of the Levites—the Merari clan—were given the following towns with their pasturelands from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah, 35 Dimnah, and Nahalal—four towns.
36 From the tribe of Reuben they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Bezer, Jahaz,[*] 37 Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four towns.
38 From the tribe of Gad they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Mahanaim, 39 Heshbon, and Jazer—four towns. 40 So in all, twelve towns were allotted to the clan of Merari.
41 The total number of towns and pasturelands within Israelite territory given to the Levites came to forty-eight. 42 Every one of these towns had pasturelands surrounding it.
NOTES
21:2 Shiloh. See note and comments on 18:1.
The LORD commanded Moses. See Num 35:1-8.
21:13, 21, 27, 32, 38 city of refuge. On the locations of the cities of refuge, see the notes and commentary on 20:7-9.
21:18 Anathoth. Also called Anata’, about three miles northeast of Jerusalem. It later became famous as the hometown of Jeremiah, the priest called to become a prophet (Jer 1:1).
21:36 Bezer. The Hebrew text has dropped the comment on Bezer’s status as a city of refuge, but the LXX preserves it; see 20:8, with note, and commentary on ch 20. (Since the MT notes the “city of refuge” status of each of the other five, as they are named in this chapter, we safely can conclude this is an omission in the MT, rather than an addition in the LXX.)
COMMENTARY [Text]
Eleazar, Joshua, and the tribal elders had been in charge of the distribution of the tribal allotments (14:1). Now the Levitical leaders approached, reminding them of Moses’s instructions while they were camped across the Jordan (Num 35:1-8). One of the priestly and Levitical duties was to teach Israel God’s Torah. They could accomplish this better if they lived spread among the tribal territories. That, at least, was the ideal.
The descendants of Aaron constituted Israel’s priests, so it should not be surprising that the lot fell to them first. Within Judah, the Aaronides received eight cities, within Simeon one, and within Benjamin four. Solomon eventually built the Temple in Jerusalem; thus, the priestly towns were in the tribal territories closest to Jerusalem.
Ephraim bordered Dan to the southwest and Manasseh to the north. Thus, the remaining Kohathite families were assigned cities in the central portion of the hill country, mostly north of Jerusalem. The Gershonite families also were allotted cities in contiguous tribes, the northernmost four in Israel. Reuben and Gad bordered each other east of the Jordan, but Zebulun was west across the Jordan, separated from Gad by Issachar. Thus, Merari was not quite kept “together,” as the other Levitical clans were.
The total of 48 Levitical cities included four received from each tribe. The exceptions were that in Judah, they received eight; in Simeon, one; and in Naphtali, three. Six of these were the cities of refuge previously designated (20:7-8); these six were both Levitical cities and cities of refuge.
We should not assume that only Levites lived in the cities included in this apportionment to Levi. The presence of Shechem, Gibeon, Hebron, Gezer, and others in this list already demonstrates a different reality from that. Israel’s subsequent history also makes it clear that these cities had non-Levites among their inhabitants. Some were important cities throughout Israel’s history, but seldom for their status as Levitical cities.
Exactly how this Levitical apportionment functioned, then, we do not know. The author’s concern here was to emphasize God’s gracious provision for those not given a tribal territory because of their service to him (cf. 13:33). God was their portion and provider. Part of God’s provision for them was this designation of cities for them to live in, together with guaranteed access to grazing lands surrounding those cities.
The Hebrew noun migrash [TH4054, ZH4494], translated “pasturelands” by the NLT, usually is understood as “common grazing ground.” It occurs 57 times in this chapter, with each of the 48 cities named, as well as prominently in both the opening and the closing paragraphs. This impressive repetition gives the list the character of a legal record and guarantee of the Levites’ access to lands immediately surrounding each of the Levitical cities (Num 35:4-5).