John Gill on Numbers 35:3
And cities shall they have to dwell in,.... For them and their families, and indeed for nothing else, they having no trades nor worldly business to carry on in them:
and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle; for stables and stalls to put them up in, and for barns and storehouses to lay in provender for them:
and for their goods; where to bestow them, as the increase of their fields, oliveyards, and vineyards, see Luke 12:18.
and for all their beasts; or living creatures; or "for their whole life" (z); or livelihood, whatsoever was for the support of it; the Targum of Jonathan adds, by way of explanation, for all their necessities; and so Jarchi.
(z) "ad vitam ipsorum". Vid. Dru…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Numbers 35:1-8
Numbers 35:1-8
1. And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,
1. Et loquutus est Jehova in campestribus Moab juxta Jordanem. Jericho, dicendo:
2. Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.
2. Praecipe filiis Israel ut dent Levitis de haereditate possessionis suae urbes ad habitandum, et suburbana urbium ipsarum, per circuitus earum dabitis ipsis Levitis.
3. And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their…
Read the whole note in the consoleTyndale Open Study Notes on Numbers 35:1-34
The tribe of Levi received no territory, so ch 35 describes their allotment of 48 towns dispersed among the territories of Israel’s other tribes (see Josh 21; see also Lev 25:32-34; 1 Chr 13:2; 2 Chr 11:14). Just as the Levites had lived in the center of the Israelite camp during the wilderness period (cp. Num 2:17), in the Promised Land they were to live among the other tribes and have a leavening influence among them (see Deut 33:9-10; 2 Chr 17:7-9; 19:8-11; 35:3). The cities and their surrounding pastureland were not a “homeland” (cp. Num 18:23; 26:62) but only a tiny fraction of the Canaanite territory dispersed among the other tribes.
