Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and
unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the
children of Israel;
After the cities of refuge had been set apart, the towns were also selected, which the
different tribes were to give up for the priest and Levites to dwell in according to the
Mosaic instructions in Num 35:1-8, together with the necessary fields as pasturage
for their cattle. The setting apart of the cities of refuge took place before the
appointment of the Levitical towns, because the Lord had given commandment
through Moses in Num 35:6, that they were to give to the Levites the six cities of
refuge, and forty-two cities besides, i.e., forty-eight cities in all. From the
introductory statement in vv. 1, 2, that the heads of the fathers (see Ex 6:14,25) of the
Levitical families reminded the distribution committee at Shiloh of the command of
God that had been issued through Moses, that towns were to be given them to dwell
in, we cannot infer, as Calvin has done, that the Levites had been forgotten, till they
came and asserted their claims. All that is stated in these words is, "that when the
business had reached that point, they approached the dividers of the land in the
common name of the members of their tribe, to receive by lot the cities appointed for
them. They simply expressed the commands of God, and said in so many words, that
they had been deputed by the Levites generally to draw lots for those forty-eight
cities with their suburbs, which had been appointed for that tribe" ( Masius ). The
clause appended to Shiloh, "in the land of Canaan," points to the instructions in Num
34:29 and 35:10, to give the children of Israel their inheritance in the land of Canaan.
Joshua 21:4-8
And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron
the priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of
the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.
Number of the cities which the different families of Levi received from each tribe.
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