Joshua 21:31

_AND OUT OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN, GIBEON WITH HER SUBURBS, GEBA WITH HER SUBURBS,_ 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....

Compare Joshua 19:18, etc. Of the cities of the Gershonites, for Beesh-terah read (Beeshterah.) The name is a contraction of Beth-Ashterah (“house of Ashterah”) and the city is undoubtedly the Ashtaroth or Astaroth of Og Joshua 12:4; Deu 1:4; 1 Chronicles 6:71....

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 ...

HELKATH WITH HER SUBURBS,.... Joshua 19:25; the same with Hukok in 1 Chronicles 6:75; AND REHOB WITH HER SUBURBS, FOUR CITIES; Joshua 19:28....

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....

HELKATH. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and Helkath"....

The Cities of the Gershonites 27. _And unto the children of Gershon_ were assigned thirteen cities, (_a_) Two in _Eastern Manasseh_, (_b_) Four in _Issachar_, (_c_) Four in _Asher_, (_d_) Three in _Naphtali_. _Golan in Bashan_ See ch. Joshua 20:8; _Beesh-terah_or _Beeshterah_, without any division of the syllables. The name is a contraction of _Beth-Ashterah_= _the house of Ashterah_, or _Ashtaroth_, a city of Og; see ch. Joshua 12:4, and 1 Chronicles 6:71....

_Cities Given to the Family of Gershon Joshua 21:27-33_ 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, En-gannim 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 Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities. 33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen ci