Joshua 21:13

_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._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

9-42 By mixing the Levites with the other tribes, they were made to see that the eyes of all Israel were upon them, and therefore it was their concern to walk so that their ministry might not be blamed. Every tribe had its share of Levites' cities. Thus did God graciously provide for keeping up religion among them, and that they might have the word in all parts of the land. Yet, blessed be God, we have the gospel more diffused amongst us....

The thirteen priestly cities (see the marginal references) were all in the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. Thus, as Calvin remarks, God so overruled it that the priestly families were placed upon the spot which He had determined before hand to choose as the site of His temple....

EXPOSITION THE INHERITANCE OF THE LEVITES. JOSHUA 21:1 THEN CAME NEAR THE HEADS OF THE FATHERS OF THE LEVITES. We are not to suppose, with Calvin, that the Levites had been overlooked. Such a supposition is little in keeping with the devout spirit of him who now directed the affairs of the Israelites, who had been minister to Moses the Levite, and had but lately been concerned with Eleazar, the high priest, in making a public recognition of that God to whose service the Levites had been specially set apart. The delay in appointing to the Levites their cities arose from the nature of the arrangement which had to be made for the Levitical cities. The prophecy which threatened ...

THUS THEY GAVE TO THE CHILDREN OF AARON THE PRIEST,.... The families of the Kohathites, that part of them which descended from him, and were priests: HEBRON WITH HER SUBURBS, [TO BE] A CITY OF REFUGE FOR THE SLAYER; that had slain a person unawares, and without design; see on Joshua 20:3; AND LIBNAH WITH HER SUBURBS; a royal city, of which see Joshua 10:29....

8. THE PORTION OF THE LEVITES CHAPTER 21 _ 1. The Levites, the children of Aaron, and their portions (Joshua 21:1)_ 2. Kohath (Joshua 21:9) 3. Gershon (Joshua 21:27) 4. Merari (Joshua 21:34) 5. The Lord's faithfulness (Joshua 21:41) In Chapter s 13:14, 33 and 14:3, 4 the statement is made that Moses gave no inheritance to the Levites. The Lord was their inheritance. After the tribes had received their allotments the heads of the fathers of the Levites came to Joshua and Eleazar with a petition. They b

THE LEVITICAL CITIES. The cities promised by Moses to the Levites are here assigned to them. The sons of Aaron have 13 in Judah, the Levites 10 in Ephraim and Manasseh, 13 in Galilee, and 12 in the E. Jordan territory. Both promises and performance are unhistorical. The simple fact that the descendants of Aaron could at this time have numbered only a few families shows the assignment of 13 cities to them to be purely imaginary. For the true history of the priesthood, reference must be made to the Introduction to the Pentateuch. JOSHUA 21:11 is an interesting piece of harmonising. The conquest and possession of the city of Hebron by Caleb was so prominent in the old tradition that the assignment of it to the Priests had to be explained. The fields and villages are therefore said to have been assigned to Caleb, while the city and the suburbs go to the Priests....

The Cities of the Descendants of Aaron 9. _And they gave_ We have now first a list of the cities _of the priests_of the line of Aaron. _out of the tribe of the children of Judah_ The list now given divides itself into two parts: (_a_) The nine cities which the sons of Aaron received in the country of Simeon and Judah (Joshua 21:9-16); (_b_) The four cities which they received in the country of Benjamin (Joshua 21:17-19)....

_VER._ 10-18. _WHICH THE KOHATHITES HAD; FOR THEIR'S WAS THE FIRST LOT_— Thus the Levite priests had for their part, as well _in Simeon as in Judah, Hebron,_ excepting the country about it, which was already given to Caleb; ch. Joshua 14:14. _Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah,_ and _Beth-shemesh;_ and in the tribe of Benjamin, _Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth,_ and _Almon,_ all which cities have been mentioned before, particularly in ch. 15: Of these, as well as of the other cities assigned to the Levites, we have a catalogue in 1 Chronicles 6 but that is imperfect; and, it should be observed, that the cities there are sometimes named otherwise than here. This may proceed from two causes: first, that, it being impracticable, to take some of these cities from the Ca

_Cities Given to the Family of Aaron Joshua 21:9-19_ 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 their's was the first lot. 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 he