Joshua 21:1

Cities and Pasturelands Allotted to Levi

1 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came ¹to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel.

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 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel.

2 And they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, "The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock."

3 So by command of the LORD the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

4 The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.

5 And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

Cross References

• 1. Joshua 14:1; Joshua 17:4; Joshua 19:51; Numbers 34:17, 18