Joshua 21:9-19

The Cities of the Priests

v. 9. And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, out of the possessions allotted to these tribes, these cities which are here mentioned by name,

v. 10. which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had; for theirs was the first lot.

v. 11. And they gave them the city of Arba, the father of Anak, Joshua 15:13-2 Chronicles :, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof found about it, the grazing-land for cattle immediately adjoining the city.

v. 12. But the fields of the city, the farm-land, and the villages thereof, the towns tributary to it, gave they to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, for his possession, Joshua 14:12-2 Chronicles :.

v. 13. Thus they gave to the children of Aaron, the priest, Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer, for this it was at the same time, Joshua 20:7; and Libnah with her suburbs,

v. 14. and Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,

v. 15. and Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs,

v. 16. and Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her suburbs: nine cities out of those two tribes, all of them being mentioned in the catalog of the cities of Judah and of Simeon, Joshua 15:21-1 John :; Joshua 19:7.

v. 17. And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, a fact which tended to curb any idolatrous notions of its heathen inhabitants, Joshua 9, Geba with her suburbs,

v. 18. Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs, Joshua 18:24-Lamentations :; 1 Chronicles 6:60: four cities.

v. 19. All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs. Thus the men in charge of the worship in the Jewish Church were provided for with all that they needed to support their body and life, even as it is the will of the Lord today that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.