Yehoshua 21:1

1 1 Then came near the Rashei Avot Levi’im unto Eleazar HaKohen, and unto Yehoshua ben Nun, and unto the Rashei Avot of the tribes of the Bnei Yisroel;

Yehoshua 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 ) .

Yehoshua 21:1 In-Context

1 1 Then came near the Rashei Avot Levi’im unto Eleazar HaKohen, and unto Yehoshua ben Nun, and unto the Rashei Avot of the tribes of the Bnei Yisroel;

2 And they spoke unto them at Shiloh in Eretz Kena’an, saying, Hashem commanded by the yad Moshe to give us towns to dwell in, with the migrashim thereof for our livestock.

3 And the Bnei Yisroel gave unto the Levi’im out of their nachalah, at the commandment of Hashem, these towns and their migrashim.

4 And the goral (lot) came out for the mishpekhot of the Kehati. And the Bnei Aharon HaKohen, which were of the Levi’im, had by lot 13 towns out of the tribe of Yehudah, and out of the tribe of Shim’on, and out of the tribe of Binyamin.

5 And the rest of the Bnei Kehat had by goral out of the mishpekhot of the tribe of Ephrayim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Menasheh, 10 towns.