21 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. 2 And they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.” 3 So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.
4 The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.
5 And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.
6 The Gershonites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
7 The Merarites according to their clans received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.
8 These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.
9 Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name, 10 which went to the descendants of Aaron, one of the clans of the Kohathites who belonged to the people of Levi; since the lot fell to them first. 11 They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it. 12 But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.
13 And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands, 14 Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, 15 Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, 16 Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes; 17 then out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, 18 Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. 19 The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.
20 As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite clans of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21 To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, 22 Kibzaim with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities; 23 and out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, 24 Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities; 25 and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities. 26 The cities of the clans of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all with their pasturelands.
27 And to the Gershonites, one of the clans of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two cities; 28 and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, 29 Jarmuth with its pasturelands, En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities; 30 and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, 31 Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities; 32 and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities. 33 The cities of the several clans of the Gershonites were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.
34 And to the rest of the Levites, the Merarite clans, were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands, 35 Dimnah with its pasturelands, Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities; 36 and out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahaz with its pasturelands, 37 Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities; 38 and out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, 39 Heshbon with its pasturelands, Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. 40 As for the cities of the several Merarite clans, that is, the remainder of the clans of the Levites, those allotted to them were in all twelve cities.
41 The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands. 42 These cities each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities.
Section Overview
Levi’s exclusion from the territorial allotment has been noted throughout the settlement account (cf. comment on 13:14, 33; cf. also Josh. 14:3–4; 18:7). The command to provide cities for Levi to inhabit was given by the Lord through Moses (Numbers 35:2, 6–8). Deuteronomy is subsequently concerned for the care and maintenance of the Levites, who are without their own inheritance (Deut. 10:9; 12:12; 14:27; 18:1), while elsewhere in Numbers attention to the Levites has more to do with their duties and responsibilities. With the land now apportioned among the inheriting tribes, the time has come for Israel to allocate cities for the Levites in accord with the parameters of the command in Numbers 35, attending in particular to the total provision of forty-eight cities. The list here bears a close relationship to that provided in 1 Chronicles 6:54–81 as an appendix to the genealogy of Levi.
The introduction to the process is framed in Joshua 21:1–3. The assignment of cities to the individual Levitical clans is then summarized in verses 4–7. Verse 8 introduces the detailed breakdown of the identities of the cities given by the inheriting tribes in verses 9–40, still organized by the Levitical clans and in the same order as provided in the summary verses. Verses 41–42 provide a summary conclusion noting the total number of cities as forty-eight, in accordance with God’s command.
Section Outline
II.I. The Levitical Cities (21:1–42)
1. Israel Donates Cities to the Levites under Joshua and Eleazar (21:1–3)
2. Summary of Distribution by Levitical Clans (21:4–7)
3. Details of Distribution by Levitical Clans (21:8–40)
a. Introduction: Donation by Lot (21:8)
b. Aaronites Provided For by Judah, with Simeon, and Benjamin (21:9–19)
c. Kohathites Provided For by Ephraim, Dan, and Half-Tribe of Manasseh (21:20–26)
d. Gershonites Provided For by the Half-Tribe of Manasseh, Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali (21:27–33)
e. Merarites Provided For by Zebulun, Reuben, and Gad (21:34–40)
4. Summary (21:41–42)
Response
At least two aspects of this passage are immediately apparent: its ideal schematization and the incorporation of the cities of refuge into the allocation of Levitical cities. Both contribute to the nation building of Israel at the moment of its inception in the Land of Promise.
In the biblical story Israel has grown from the family of Jacob in Genesis to the nation now settled into the landscape of the patriarchal sojourning. The narrator will reflect on this remarkable moment in the following brief passage, but this designation of cities as a joint project by the twelve settled tribes for the non-inheriting tribe of Levi forges the entire people into one integrated whole. In this context the list of Levitical cities is much more than an administrative record of the kind found in the corresponding passage of 1 Chronicles 6. Here there is a clear narrative context and trajectory, beginning not from the process of settlement in this macrosection of Joshua but all the way back from the promises to Abraham and the election of Israel in the book of Genesis. The close context in the book of Joshua, however, accounts to some degree for the presentation of the city list here. In the first part of the book the Levitical priests bear the ark of God in the midst of the nation (chs. 3–4, 6), and now with their distributed presence they bear still, in a more diffuse way, God’s presence among his people, for whom they serve as custodians of spiritual welfare (Ex. 32:29; Num. 8:19; cf. Deut. 10:8).
If the schematized presentation lends a sense of unity to this new nation, the blending of the cities of asylum with their further civic spaces makes the Levites not only custodians of Israel’s spiritual welfare but also to some extent guardians of justice before any other judicial institutions have been established. Whether there is merit to the suggestion that the adjudication of the case of the fugitive manslayer had a paradigmatic function,125 this remains a powerful tool for inculcating the deliberation of the community in seeking just outcomes in these cases of death and life. It is not too much of a stretch to see these as leading Israel on a path to discern just outcomes in lesser cases, too.
The responsibility, provision, and privilege of Levi is connected by Stephen Williams to the designation of Israel in Exodus 19:6 as a “kingdom of priests.”126 As the Levitical priesthood was to Israel, so Israel was among the nations. Peter finds in this phrase something that applies to the NT people of God: the identity of the NT church, too, involves being a “royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9). This comes with a purpose: to display the “excellencies of him who called you” to a watching world. The distribution of Levi throughout the territories of Israel and especially at its boundaries sets a suggestive trajectory for the Peter’s identification of the church with Israel’s “royal priesthood,” as it too lives out and attests to a standard of justice and righteousness needed in a world prone to asserting self-seeking rights regardless of the cost to the wider community.