Numbers 35:2

2 `Command the sons of Israel, and they have given to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to inhabit; also a suburb for the cities round about them ye do give to the Levites.

Numbers 35:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:2

Command the children of Israel
All the tribes of them; it is not a bare instruction that is given them, much less a mere request that is made to them, or something proposed, and left to their option whether they would agree to it or not; but it is strictly enjoined them by the Lord, who had given them freely all they should possess, and who had a right to all they had, and to whom they were in duty and gratitude bound to do his will and pleasure: the order is,

that they give unto the Levites, of the inheritance of their
possession, cities to dwell in;
which was but reasonable and requisite, that the ministers of God, and the assistants of the priests, and who did the service of the congregation, that they should have, habitations for them and their families, as well as food and raiment was provided for them in another way:

and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round
about them;
which were partly for ornament to their cities, and partly for their health, that they might have air, and not be too closely confined within the walls of their cities; and also for convenience, that they have room for their cattle, and places to lay up the increase of their fields, as after suggested. Jarchi says, that a suburb was a space and place parted without the city, round about, for the beauty of it; but they were not allowed to build there an house (i.e. to dwell in), nor to plant a vineyard, nor to sow seed; other ground is after provided for such uses.

Numbers 35:2 In-Context

1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, [near] Jericho, saying,

2 `Command the sons of Israel, and they have given to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to inhabit; also a suburb for the cities round about them ye do give to the Levites.

3 And the cities have been to them to inhabit, and their suburbs are for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts.

4 `And the suburbs of the cities which ye give to the Levites [are], from the wall of the city and without, a thousand cubits round about.

5 And ye have measured from the outside of the city, the east quarter, two thousand by the cubit, and the south quarter, two thousand by the cubit, and the west quarter, two thousand by the cubit, and the north quarter, two thousand by the cubit; and the city [is] in the midst; this is to them the suburbs of the cities.