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 . read more
And Jattir with her suburbs ,.... See Gill on Joshua 15:48 , and Eshtemoa with her suburbs ; See Gill on Joshua 15:50 . read more
And Holon with her suburbs ,.... See Gill on Joshua 15:51 , and Debir with her suburbs ; See Gill on Joshua 15:49 . read more
And Ain with her suburbs ,.... See Gill on Joshua 15:32 , and Juttah with her suburbs ; See Gill on Joshua 15:55 , and Bethshemesh with her suburbs ; which is not mentioned among the cities of Judah, Joshua 15:21 ; only as in the borders of it, Joshua 21:10 ; and perhaps is the same Bethshemesh to which the ark was directed by the Philistines from Ashdod, 1 Samuel 6:9 ; in it formerly was a temple dedicated to the sun, from whence it had its name: nine cities out of... read more
And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs ,.... See Gill on Joshua 18:25 ; from which came the Gibeonites. Geba with her suburbs. Of which See Gill on Joshua 18:24 . read more
Anathoth with her suburbs ,.... This is not mentioned among the cities of Benjamin, Joshua 18:11 ; it was the native place of the Prophet Jeremiah; see Gill on Jeremiah 1:1 ; it lay about two or three miles north of Jerusalem; three, says, Jerom F11 De loc. Heb. fol. 88. H. . Rauwolff F12 Travels, par. 3. c. 2. p. 216. speaks of it as a small village, when he travelled into those parts, and as lying on a height or eminence, and which was within twenty furlongs of Jerusalem,... read more
All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests ,.... Those of the Kohathites that came from him: were thirteen cities with their suburbs ; and just so many are mentioned by name in Joshua 21:11 . read more
And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites ,.... Who were not priests: which remained of the children of Kohath ; these are the children of Moses, as Jarchi says, and those that descended from Kohath in the lines of Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel: even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim ; and were as follow. read more
For they gave them Shechem, with her suburbs, in Mount Ephraim ,.... Of which see Joshua 20:7 , to be a city of refuge for the slayer ; which being on a mountain, was the more conspicuous, and the fitter for this purpose, as was Hebron in the hill country of Judea, Joshua 21:11 ; this is the second; city of refuge mentioned: and Gezer with her suburbs : a place from whence the Canaanites were not expelled; See Gill on Joshua 16:10 . read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 21:9-42
We have here a particular account of the cities which were given to the children of Levi out of the several tribes, not only to be occupied and inhabited by them, as tenants to the several tribes in which they lay?no, their interest in them was not dependent and precarious, but to be owned and possessed by them as lords and proprietors, and as having the same title to them that the rest of the tribes had to their cities or lands, as appears by the law which preserved the house in the Levites?... read more