Matthew Henry on 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' cities from being alienated any longer than till the year of jubilee, Lev 25:32, Lev 25:33. Yet it is probable that the Levites having only the cities and suburbs, while the land about pertained to th…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 21:9
THE CITIES OF THE PRIESTS. (Jos. 21:9-42)
they gave . . . these cities which are here mentioned by name--It was overruled by the unerring providence of the Divine Lawgiver that the cities of the priests lay within the territories of Judah and Benjamin. This was a provision, the admirable wisdom and propriety of which were fully manifested on the schism that took place in the reign of Rehoboam.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 21:12
The fields of the city - gave they to Caleb - This was an exclusive privilege to him and his family, with which the grant to the Levites did not interfere. See the notes on Jos 14:14.
John Gill on Joshua 21:13
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.
John Calvin on Joshua 21:1-19
Joshua 21:1-19
1. 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;
1. Accesserunt autem principes patrum Levitarum ad Eleazar sacerdotem, et ad Josue filium Nun, et ad principes patrum tribuum filiorum Israel.
2. And they spoke unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle.
2. Loquutique sunt ad eos in Silo in terra Chanaan, dicendo, Jehova praecepit per manum Mosis ut daretis nobis urbes ad habitandum, et suburbana earum pro animalibus…
