Cities for the Levites and rest from enemies
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| 1 ¶ Then came near the
heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua
the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the
children of Israel;
.2 And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. 3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs. 4 And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, which were 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. |
1 -
Heads of the fathers That is, the three divisions of the tribe of
Levi. The fathers were Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
1 - Levites They were for the service of the temple or tabernacle and were not to receive a portion of land for their tribe. See nu3501f. 1 - Eleazar Mentioned first because he inquired of God. Joshua was to go first to him nu2721. Joshua was generally faithful in this respect, certainly more than the kings which later governed the children of Israel. However, see jos09. 2 - Suburbs From the root, garash, which means "to drive or "to chase." Thus an area for cattle and sheep. See on jos1404. 4 - Levites More than Levites occupied the cities le2532-4. |
| 5 And the rest of the children
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.
6 And the children 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. 7 The children 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. 8 And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses. |
5 -
Kohath Not in the family of Aaron.
6 - Gershon The first son of Levi ex0616, nu0317. 7 - Merari The youngest son of Levi. 8 - Gave by lot We see that the Lord told Moses that selection was to be by lot. |
| 9 ¶ And they gave out
of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children
of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name,
10 Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot. |
9 -
Gave out of the tribe ... All the cities except Ain v16
were in the territory which later became the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
See map. Levites had
been distributed throughout the land but those in the northern area fled
to Judah after the apostasy of Jeroboam 2ch1114.
9 - These cities The list is seen in 1ch0654ff. Differences would be due to changed names and the disappearance of some of them. 9 - Fields Should read "field." Apparently the land beyond the 2000 cubits specified in nu3505. |
| .11
And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron,
in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it.
12 But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. .13 Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs, 14 And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs, 15 And Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs, .16 And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Bethshemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. |
11
- Arba See jos1415.
13 - Libanah See on jos1029. 15 - Debir See on jos1038. Others are seen in various chapters of Joshua. |
| 17 And out of the tribe of
Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,
.18 Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities. 19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs. |
17
- Gibeon See Jerusalem map,
NW area. and Conquest entry map.
18 - Anathoth Jeremiah would be born there je0101, je1121. The "suburbs" would be the surrounding countryside. |
| .20
And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites which remained
of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of
the tribe of Ephraim.
21 For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs, 22 And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Bethhoron with her suburbs; four cities. .23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs, 24 Aijalon with her suburbs, Gathrimmon with her suburbs; four cities. .25 And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gathrimmon with her suburbs; two cities. 26 All the cities were ten with their suburbs for the families of the children of Kohath that remained. |
20
- Levites which remained That is, beyond those counted as priests.
22 - Beth-horon "There were two cities of this name, the upper and the nether; but which is intended here, cannot be ascertained." 24 - Aijalon See on jos1013 and context. 25 - Out of ... Manasseh, Tanach Or "Taanach." This was "A Canaanite royal city jos1221, in the territory of Issachar, but assigned to Manesseh," jos1711, jos2125. Later, a small area called Tanach existed on the south border of the plain of Esdraelon, four miles southeast of the site of Megiddo, which is usually named with Taanach jg0127, jg0519, 1ki0412. |
| 27 And unto the children of
Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of
Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge
for the slayer; and Beeshterah with her suburbs; two cities.
28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs, 29 Jarmuth with her suburbs, Engannim with her suburbs; four cities. 30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs, 31 Helkath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs; four cities. 32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammothdor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities. 33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs. |
29 - Jarmuth See on jos1921. |
| 34 And unto the families of
the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun,
Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,
35 Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four cities. 36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs, .37 Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs; four cities. .38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs, 39 Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all. 40 So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities. 41 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. 42 These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all these cities. |
42 - Between verses 42 and 43, the Septuagint (translation into Greek) adds "And Joshua ceased dividing the land . . . and the children of Israel gave a portion to Joshua: they gave him the city which he asked: they have him Thamnasachar in the mount of Ephriam. . . . And Joshua took the knives of stone, wherewith he circumcised the children of Israel that were born in the desert by the way and put them in Thamnaschar." |
| 43 ¶ And the LORD gave
unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and
they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
.44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. |
43
- Gave unto Israel all the land This seems like an error because
we find David and Solomon making final conquest. The text doesn't deny
the lack of completion. The land was theirs even though they weren't occupying
it. They were to move in gradually ex2330.
44 - Rest The nations around them were leaving them in peace but God intended them to become righteous and at peace with Him. Thus their failure is seen in he0401,8. |
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