20 And for the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, who are left of the sons of Kohath, even the cities of their lot are of the tribe of Ephraim;
21 and they give to them the city of refuge `for' the man-slayer, Shechem and its suburbs, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Gezer and its suburbs,
22 and Kibzaim and its suburbs, and Beth-Horon and its suburbs -- four cities.
23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its suburbs, Gibbethon and its suburbs,
24 Aijalon and its suburbs, Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs -- four cities.
25 And out of the half of the tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its suburbs, and Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs -- two cities;
26 all the cities `are' ten and their suburbs, for the families of the sons of Kohath who are left.
27 And for the sons of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half of the tribe of Manasseh, the city of refuge `for' the man-slayer, Golan in Bashan and its suburbs, and Beeshterah and its suburbs -- two cities.
28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon and its suburbs, Dabarath and its suburbs,
29 Jarmuth and its suburbs, En-Gannim and its suburbs -- four cities.
30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its suburbs, Abdon and its suburbs,
31 Helkath and its suburbs, and Rehob and its suburbs -- four cities.
32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge `for' the man-slayer, Kedesh in Galilee and its suburbs, and Hammoth-Dor and its suburbs, and Kartan and its suburbs -- three cities;
33 all the cities of the Gershonite, for their families, `are' thirteen cities and their suburbs.
34 And for the families of the sons of Merari, the Levites, who are left, `are,' out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its suburbs, Kartah and its suburbs,
35 Dimnah and its suburbs, Nahalal and its suburbs -- four cities.
36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its suburbs, and Jahazah and its suburbs,
37 Kedemoth and its suburbs, and Mephaath and its suburbs -- four cities.
38 And out of the tribe of Gad, the city of refuge `for' the man-slayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its suburbs, and Mahanaim and its suburbs,
39 Heshbon and its suburbs, Jazer and its suburbs -- `in' all four cities.
40 All the cities for the sons of Merari, for their families, who are left of the families of the Levites -- their lot is twelve cities.
41 All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel `are' forty and eight cities, and their suburbs.
42 These cities are each city and its suburbs round about it; so to all these cities.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Joshua 21
Commentary on Joshua 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
It had been often said that the tribe of Levi should have "no inheritance with their brethren,' no particular part of the country assigned them, as the other tribes had, no, not the country about Shiloh, which one might have expected to be appropriated to them as the lands of the church; but, though they were not thus cast into a country by themselves, it appears, by the provision made for them in this chapter, that they were no losers, but the rest of the tribes were very much gainers, by their being dispersed. We have here,
Jos 21:1-8
Here is,
Jos 21:9-42
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, 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.
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.
Jos 21:43-45
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.