Joshua 21:1

All the sons of Israel received their allotments in the land, but for the Levites God alone suffices as their inheritance. Yet since the Levites receive "tithes" and "firstfruits" of the produce from the sons of Israel by God's command, it was fitting that they should also receive tithes, so to speak, from the land and from the dwelling-places; for this is what it means to have received "tithes from all." And therefore "the chief men who were among the sons of Levi, coming to Eleazar the priest and to Jesus the son of Nave, and to the leaders of the tribes of the sons of Israel in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, said": "The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, and their suburbs for our animals." It was fitting that a lot should also be cast for the "suburbs" and for the "cities," lest by chance the division carried out among the Levites should seem to be made indiscriminately and by mere accident. Therefore, just as the distribution of the lot, which was made among the sons of Israel, had a reason by which one man was held worthy of the first lot, and another of the second — concerning which, as far as we were able, we have already treated before, and also concerning those who, through Moses, receive beyond the Jordan, and from Jesus in the land of promise —, where the first lot fell to Benjamin and afterward to the rest, among whom Dan was last: so must there also be some reason in the priestly and Levitical allotment, that to some the first lot, to others the second, and to others indeed the third is drawn, by which these or those places are assigned to each one. Now the "sons of Levi" are said to be "Gershon and Kohath and Merari," and it is shown that Kohath held first place in honor, because the "sons of Kohath" were "Amram," "Moses and Aaron and Miriam." Therefore from Kohath was produced that part of the people which is priestly, which is Aaron and his sons; but Moses is to be reckoned either in the priestly order, or, if there can be anything even beyond the priestly, there; and there is another account concerning his sons. But the "rest" of the "sons of Kohath," who are from "Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel," held their place according to their order in the tribe of Levi. Then after these, after Kohath, "Gershon" among the sons of Levi receives his portion in the third place, but "Merari" the very last of all. Now this is…