Joshua 21:1

Cities for the Levites

1 The heads of the levitical families approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua, Nun's son, and the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes.

Joshua 21:1 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 21:1

Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites
When the land was divided to the several tribes, and everyone knew the cities that belonged to them, and what they could and should part with to the Levites, and when the six cities of refuge were fixed; the Levites came to put in their claim for cities of habitation, they having no share in the division of the land; and yet it was necessary they should have habitations; the persons that undertook to put in a claim for them were the principal men among them; the fathers of them were Kohath, Gershon, and Merari; the heads of those were the chief men that were then living: these came

unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun;
the high priest and chief magistrate:

and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of
Israel;
the princes appointed to divide the land with the two great personages before mentioned, ( Numbers 34:17-29 ) .

Joshua 21:1 In-Context

1 The heads of the levitical families approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua, Nun's son, and the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes.

2 They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan: "The LORD gave a command through Moses to give us cities to live in and their pasturelands for our cattle."

3 So the Israelites gave the Levites the following cities and their pasturelands out of their own legacy. This was in agreement with the LORD's command.

4 The lot went out for the clans of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest from among the Levites acquired thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

5 The rest of the descendants of Kohath acquired ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half of Manasseh.