Deeper Commentary
Jos 21:1 Then the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites came near
to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of
fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel-
They would have listened to all the descriptions of the cantons of
the other tribes, and would have been deeply aware that they had not been
provided for by their brethren.
Jos 21:2 They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan saying, Yahweh
commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our
livestock-
This implies that the Levites had livestock with them when they
entered the land, and we assume that they also had animals with them on
the wilderness journey. Hence we are told that Achan had his own flocks of
animals at the time when they first crossed the Jordan and entered the
land. The manna was clearly supplemented by their own food products taken
from the animals they had with them. They did this to satisfy their
craving for meat in addition to manna, which had nearly led to their
destruction. We wonder whether the Levites ought to have had such
livestock in the desert, or whether they ought to have been satisfied with
the manna.
Jos 21:3 The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their
inheritance, according to the commandment of Yahweh, these cities with
their suburbs-
I pointed out throughout Josh. 19, and later here in this chapter,
that many of the Levitical cities were 'given' to them by the tribes, when
they had not driven out the tribes.
Jos 21:4 The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children
of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot
out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of
the tribe of Benjamin-
I will suggest later in this chapter, as on :3, that the tribes
tended to give the Levites the cities which they didn't really possess or
which were unimportant to them. It could mean that the "lot" was therefore
interfered with. However, it could be that the tribes decided which towns
they were going to "give", and the lot was not to decide which towns were
given, but to which of the three families of the Levites the towns were to
be given, i.e. the Gershonites, Kohathites and Merarites.
Jos 21:5 The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of
the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of
the half-tribe of Manasseh-
Jos 21:6 The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the
families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the
tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan-
As explained on :3,4, the Levites were 'given' these cities only in
theory. They did not at that time 'have' them, as several of them were not
even in Israelite hands.
Jos 21:7 The children of Merari according to their families had twelve
cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the
tribe of Zebulun-
The law of Moses reasons as if each family of Israel had a specific
inheritance which was not to be sold or moved outside the family. Hence
the sin of Ahab in obtaining Naboth's vineyard. It would seem that there
was some unrecorded list made of each family and which land they were to
be given. This looks forward to our very personal and unique inheritance
in God's Kingdom, possibly based around spiritual family units.
Jos 21:8 The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by
lot to the Levites, as Yahweh commanded by Moses-
In other words, Joshua ensured that there was a strictly legal granting of
these cities to the Levites. But as explained on :3, the spirit of all
this was rather lacking seeing that several of the cities were not even
possessed by the Israelites at this time. Joshua was very good at obedience to clear commandments (Josh. 4:10,17;
8:27; 10:40). But when he had to articulate his faith in God in unexpected
situations, e.g. when the ambassadors from Gibeon arrived, or when the
first attack on Ai failed, he seems to have performed poorly. Legalistic
obedience is no use in those cases when principles need to be applied.
Josh. 5:13,14 can be read as a rebuke of Joshua, wanting to boil
everything down to black and white, wanting to see God as either
personally for him or against him; when the essence is to seek to discern
and do God’s will. He very strictly adhered to God’s commandments with
legalistic obedience, e.g., about how to approach and deal with Jericho,
or how to cross the flooded Jordan and build an altar; and time and again,
we read in Joshua of how he strictly relayed and obeyed the Divine
commandments given by Moses (Josh. 8:31,33,35; 11:12,15,20; 14:2,5; 17:4;
21:2,8). Yet as with any literalistic or legally minded person, it was
hard for Joshua to apply the principles behind the laws to situations
which weren’t specifically addressed by Divine revelation, where
legalistic obedience wasn't what was required.
Jos 21:9 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 mentioned by
name-
"Mentioned" is literally to call out, as if the names of the cities
were read out, along with the result of the lots, i.e. to which clan of
the three sons of Levi they should be given.
Jos 21:10 They were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the
Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first
lot-
The Kohathites had their cities in Judah and Ephraim, which were not
neighbouring tribes. This fulfilled the promise that Levi was to be
scattered in Israel, although this curse was intended to turn out as a
blessing, in that the knowledge of God would be further spread amongst the
people.
Jos 21:11 They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (the
same is Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it-
Jos 21:12 But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb
the son of Jephunneh for his possession-
Perhaps rather speculatively, Kiel concludes from this “that the
Levites only received as many houses in the cities assigned them, as their
numerical strength required, and that it was these which remained in their
hands as an inalienable possession”.
Jos 21:13 To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its
suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah with its suburbs-
We are all in the position of the man who unintentionally committed
manslaughter and must therefore die. We are under sentence of death by
reason of being human, as well as for our actual sins. The avenger of
blood could be seen as God, for it is He alone who has the right to
execute judgment for sin. And we must note that the word ga'al
translated "avenger" is also that translated "redeemer" or 'ransomer'. The
cities of refuge are therefore understood in Heb. 6:18 as looking ahead to
refuge in the Lord Jesus: "Who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the
hope set before us". The allusion is to how the person who found
they had committed a sin worthy of death, yet without as it were wishing
to have done so, could flee to a city of refuge and be saved there by the
death of the high priest. The curse upon Levi was that the members of this
tribe were to be scattered in Israel (Gen. 49:7). However, this resulted
in the cities of the Levites being scattered throughout the land, thus
providing accessible cities of refuge to all who wished to escape the
consequences of sin. Those cities were evidently symbolic of the refuge we
have in Christ. Again and again, the curses and consequences of human sin
are used by the Father to mediate blessing. It is the sure hope before us
which is our refuge. "Hope", elpis, is a confident knowledge of a
future reality, rather than a hoping for the best. We should be confident
in our salvation. The 'guilty' person was made free totally through the
death of the High Priest, clearly looking forward to the significance of
the death of the Lord Jesus.
Jos 21:14 Jattir with its suburbs-
Jattir was given to the priests but was in Philistine territory
(Josh. 15:48 and context). Although the choice of priestly cities was
supposedly taken by lot, it is significant that many of them were in
territory such as this Philistine territory which was never really
subjugated by Israel. They failed to learn the principle of 2 Sam. 24:24,
that we are not to apparently sacrifice to God that which cost us nothing.
Eshtemoa with its suburbs-
Jos 21:15 Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs-
Jos 21:16 Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh
with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes-
In the Hebrew text of 1 Chron. 6:55-60 we have eleven names of
priestly towns, but
thirteen towns are stated as having been 'given' in 1 Chron. 6:60. Juttah and Gibeon were promised (Josh.
21:16,17), but were not possessed. But as also experienced in 1 Chron. 6:81, and as
often happens with God's people, they do not take all the blessing that
God promised and intended for them.
Jos 21:17 Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with
its suburbs-
The Gibeonites had made peace with Joshua and by all accounts
remained faithful to Yahweh for generations, as the Nethinim. It was
appropriate that Gibeon be made a priestly city. But see on :16.
Jos 21:18 Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four
cities-
Anathoth was the birthplace of Jeremiah, and means 'place of
answers', perhaps because the prophetic word was given there. Almon was
only one mile from Anathoth, so we get the impression the tribes were just
trying to make two priestly cities out of one; which fits with the theme
of them giving the Levites marginal towns or those they didn't possess.
Jos 21:19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were
thirteen cities with their suburbs-
This sounds a large number of towns for this group, given their
population at the time. But many of the "cities" were tiny settlements
like Almon (see on :18).
Jos 21:20 The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the
rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the
tribe of Ephraim-
The children of Kohath (i.e. here those apart from those of the
priestly order), were give four cities in Ephraim, four in Dan and two in
Western Manasseh. This fulfilled the promise that Levi was to be scattered
in Israel, although this curse was intended to turn out as a blessing, in
that the knowledge of God would be further spread amongst the people.
Jos 21:21 They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of
Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs-
The cities of refuge were generally in the wilderness or mountainous
areas; perhaps the idea was that they should not be used casually, but the
person had to make quite some effort to get there. See on :13.
Jos 21:22 Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs; four
cities-
Kibzaim is Jokmeam in 1 Chron. 6:68. Any student of the Hebrew text
will soon perceive that proper nouns can be expressed in various ways, and
that people and towns often had more than one name. It is nothing but
intellectual desperation which would try to forge from this a claim that
the record contradicts itself. Such differences surely reflect the fact
that these records were written by different people at different times,
and yet don't contradict because the records are all inspired by the same
Spirit of God.
Jos 21:23 Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with
its suburbs-
Jos 21:24 Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; four
cities-
Jos 21:25 Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and
Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; two cities-
Jos 21:26 All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of
Kohath were ten with their suburbs-
For "ten cities", see on :5.
Jos 21:27 They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the
Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its
suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah with its
suburbs; two cities-
Golan was one of the cities of refuge on the east of Jordan. Those
cities of refuge could have been increased in number (Dt. 19:9), thereby making
salvation that much 'easier' or accessible; but there is no evidence
Israel availed themselves of this.
Beeshterah is Ashtaroth in 1 Chron. 6:71, a shortened for of 'house of Ashtaroth'. We note the retention of the old pagan name. There is no record at all of Israel's obedience to the commands to destroy the local idols of the land, although the change of name of Kiriath Baal (Josh. 15:60; 18:14) is evidence enough that there was some local attempt to stamp out the name of Baal in that case. Instead the historical record is full of evidence that they worshipped these gods. Although the name of Baal Meon had been changed in Num. 32:38, by the time of Josh. 13:17 the old name was still being used. Clearly Israel did not detest idolatry as they ought to have done. Just as the names of idols should not have passed the lips of Israel, so for us, the things of sexual impurity are not to be named amongst us (Eph. 5:3). The allusion shows how Paul understood such things to be the equivalent of idolatry in his day, and that remains a fair interpretation even in our age.
Jos 21:28 Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath
with its suburbs-
This is called Kedesh in Josh. 13:22.
Jos 21:29 Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs; four
cities-
Ramoth in 1 Chron. 6:73 is called Jarmuth in Josh. 21:28,29, and
perhaps Remeth in Josh. 19:21. Anem of 1 Chron. 6:73 is En-gannim in
Josh. 19:21; 21:29.
Jos 21:30 Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with
its suburbs-
Mishal was in the mountains on the very edge of Asher's inheritance,
which they had not possessed (Josh. 19:25). See on :31; and for
Abdon, on Josh. 19:28.
Jos 21:31 Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four
cities-
Helkath was in the mountains on the very edge of Asher's inheritance
(Josh. 19:25).
Jos 21:32 Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its
suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammothdor with its
suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities-
Hammath was a "fortified city" (Josh. 19:35), fortified by the local
population and considered too strong for Naphtali to take. But it was
given by them to the Levites (Josh. 21:32). As noted elsewhere, the tribes
"gave" to the Levites the cities which were on the very edges of their
cantons, or held by the enemy, or in mountainous, remote areas. I
therefore suggest that the process of distributing the priestly cities by
"lot" was interfered with. They failed to learn the principle of 2 Sam.
24:24, that we are not to apparently sacrifice to God that which cost us
nothing.
Jos 21:33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families
were thirteen cities with their suburbs-
The children of Gershon had thirteen cities, two in Eastern Manasseh,
four in Issachar, four in Asher and three in Naphtali. This fulfilled the
promise that Levi was to be scattered in Israel, although this curse was
intended to turn out as a blessing, in that the knowledge of God would be
further spread amongst the people.
Jos 21:34 To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the
Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, Kartah
with its suburbs-
The law of Moses reasons as if each family of Israel had a specific
inheritance which was not to be sold or moved outside the family. Hence
the sin of Ahab in obtaining Naboth's vineyard. It would seem that there
was some unrecorded list made of each family and which land they were to
be given. This looks forward to our very personal and unique inheritance
in God's Kingdom, possibly based around spiritual family units.
Jos 21:35 Dimnah with its suburbs and Nahalal with its suburbs; four
cities-
Rimmono and Tabor in 1 Chron. 6:77 are in Josh. 21:35 as Dimnah and
Nahalai.
Jos 21:36 Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with
its suburbs-
Jahaz, like Heshbon, Jazer and Mephaath, was taken by the Moabites
and was in their long term possession (Is. 15:1-9; 16:1-14; Jer.
48:21,34). This continues the impression that the cities given to the
Levites were often in marginal areas which were liable to attack and loss
to Gentile powers. See on :37.
Jos 21:37 Kedemoth with its suburbs and Mephaath with its suburbs; four
cities-
Kedemoth was given to the Levites (Josh. 21:37) but was in fact a
town which had not been captured from the local population (Josh. 13:18).
They failed to learn the principle of 2 Sam. 24:24, that we are not to
apparently sacrifice to God that which cost us nothing.
Jos 21:38 Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the
city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs-
But Ramoth Gilead passed in and out of Israelite possession. The
cities of refuge were generally in the wilderness or mountainous areas;
perhaps the idea was that they should not be used casually, but the person
had to make quite some effort to get there.
Jos 21:39 Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in
all-
See on :36.
Jos 21:40 All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to
their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot
was twelve cities-
The children of Merari has twelve cities, four in Zebulun, four in
Reuben, four in Gad. This fulfilled the promise that Levi was to be
scattered in Israel, although this curse was intended to turn out as a
blessing, in that the knowledge of God would be further spread amongst the
people.
Jos 21:41 All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of
the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs-
The idea was that the Levites would live "in the midst" of the
people, teaching them God's way. But Israel's apostacy is often blamed
upon the failure of the priesthood; and yet that in turn was partly due to
Israel not providing for the Levites.
Jos 21:42 Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It was
this way with all these cities-
"Suburbs" is translated by some as "cattle drives".
Jos 21:43 So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which He swore to give to
their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it-
The Lord gave them the land, i.e. potentially, but they failed to
possess it; the language here is that of potential achievement by Joshua,
rather than by Israel in practice. "Drive out" is s.w. "possess". We must note the difference
between the Canaanite peoples and their kings being "struck" and
their land "taken" by Joshua-Jesus; and the people of Israel permanently
taking possession. This is the difference between the Lord's victory on
the cross, and our taking possession of the Kingdom. Even though that
possession has been "given" to us. The word used for "possession" is
literally 'an inheritance'. The allusion is to the people, like us, being
the seed of Abraham. The Kingdom was and is our possession, our
inheritance- if we walk in the steps of Abraham. But it is one thing to be
the seed of Abraham, another to take possession of the inheritance; and
Israel generally did not take possession of all the land (Josh.
11:23 13:1; 16:10; 18:3; 23:4). The language of inheritance / possession
is applied to us in the New Testament (Eph. 1:11,14; Col. 3:24; Acts
20:32; 26:18; 1 Pet. 1:4 etc.). Israel were promised: "You shall possess
it" (Dt. 30:5; 33:23). This was more of a command than a prophecy, for
sadly they were "given" the land but did not "possess" it. They were
constantly encouraged in the wilderness that they were on the path to
possessing the land (Dt. 30:16,18; 31:3,13; 32:47), but when they got
there they didn't possess it fully.
But Joshua's achievements are presented as a primary fulfilment of the promises to Abraham. In a sense, the promises that the seed would inherit the land, and that God would be their God were fulfilled straight after God said them. He became Isaac's God (Gen. 31:42,53 refer to this), the God of Abraham's son. Time and again God reminds Israel that He is their God. And that land in a sense was given to the Jewish fathers (Gen. 15:18; Dt. 28:63; 30:5 NIV; Josh. 1:2-9; 21:43; 1 Kings 4:20,21). David could praise God simply because He was ''my God'' (Ps. 118:28)- an allusion back to the Abrahamic promise. Of course, the main fulfillment of this promise will be in the Kingdom; but in principle, the promise has already been fulfilled to Abraham's seed- i.e., us!
Jos 21:44 Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that He swore
to their fathers-
Heb. 3:8 is clear that Joshua did not give them "rest" as intended,
and so his work was reapplied and rescheduled to his namesake the Lord
Jesus. So the language here is that of potential achievement by Joshua,
rather than by Israel in practice.
Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh
delivered all their enemies into their hand-
But their enemies did stand before them, they didn't possess all the
land. Yet God puts it over so positively, as if it's a story with a happy
ending- when actually it's a tragedy. Even when rebuking them, God sees
Israel as in some ways " perfect" (Is. 42:18-20). Israel were like Sodom,
and yet they weren't treated like Sodom (Is. 1:9,10). They were Jeshurun,
the upright one, but they kicked at God (Dt. 32:15). See on Josh. 19:9.
Jos 21:45 Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the
house of Israel; all came to pass-
Literally, 'a word from all the good word'. Every word of promise
concerning every town, field, cattle drive and suburb didn't fail. God's
prophecies do not fail of themselves; it is human weakness which fails to
realize the prophetic potential. Indeed as concluded in Josh. 24:18
"Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples". But Israel failed to
make good on that, for they didn't drive out all the peoples. This all
speaks of the tragic wasted potential which there is in all that the Lord
Jesus achieved. He won the victories over every aspect of sin, every
obstacle between us and possessing the Kingdom. But we are slow and lazy
to believe and act upon that. See on Josh. 24:15.
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