Dimnah with her suburbs ,.... Nowhere mentioned, unless the same with Rimmon, 1 Chronicles 6:77 , Nahalal with her suburbs ; see Joshua 19:15 , four cities ; only two are mentioned, 1 Chronicles 6:77 ; and they by different names; the one is Rimmon, before observed, and the other Tabor; perhaps the same with Chislothtabor, Joshua 19:12 . read more
And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs ,.... Which was a city of refuge, and the fifth of them in this account, though not observed as such here, but is in the Greek version; see Joshua 20:8 , and Jahazah with her suburbs ; called Jahaz; see Gill on Numbers 21:23 . read more
Dimnah with her suburbs , etc. - It is well known to every Hebrew scholar that the two following verses are wholly omitted by the Masora; and are left out in some of the most correct and authentic Hebrew Bibles. Between critics there is no small controversy relative to the authenticity of these verses; and those who wish to see the arguments at large on both sides, must consult the Variae Lectiones of De Rossi on this place. Dr. Kennicott, who is a strenuous advocate for their... read more
Jahazah - See on Joshua 13:18 ; (note). read more
The ecclesiastical settlement of Canaan. Though the ecclesiastical institutions of the Christian Church differ, in some respects materially, from these of the Jewish, yet inasmuch as the law and the gospel came from the same All-wise Hand, we may naturally expect that the main principles of each will be the same. Perhaps we have insisted too much of late on the fact that the law was "done away in Christ," and too little on the qualifying truth that Christ came "not to destroy, but to... read more
And out of the tribe of Reuben. This verse and the succeeding have the Masoretic note appended that they are not found in the Masora or true tradition. Kimchi therefore rejects them. But they are found in the LXX . and the rest of the ancient versions, and they are necessary to make up the number of forty-eight cities. Dr. Kennicott, as well as Michaelis, Rosenmuller, and Maurer defended their genuineness. So does Knobel, who complains that Rabbi Jacob Ben Chajim, in his Rabbinical Bible... read more
Merarite cities. Some of these places are not found in the list of Zebulonite cities in Joshua 19:10-16. The text is considered corrupt. read more
Cities for the Levites (20:1-21:45)The Levites were given forty-eight cities throughout Israel, along with surrounding pasture lands for their cattle (see 21:41-42; Numbers 35:1-8). Among these cities were six cities of refuge (Numbers 35:6). These were cities where a person who had killed another could flee for safety until he had been lawfully judged (Exodus 21:12-14). If he was found guilty of murder he was to be executed, but if he was found to have caused the death accidentally, he could... read more
And out of the tribe of Reuben. See note on Joshua 21:38 . Reuben. Some codices, with one early printed edition, add "a city of refuge for the manslayer Bezer . Some codices, with Septuagint and Vulgate, add in the desert". and Jahasah . Some codices omit this "and 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