Joshua 21

9-40. they gave . . . these cities which are here mentioned by name--It was overruled by the unerring providence of the Divine Lawgiver that the cities of the priests lay within the territories of Judah and Benjamin. This was a provision, the admirable wisdom and propriety of which were fully manifested on the schism that took place in the reign of Rehoboam.

41. All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs--This may appear too great a proportion compared with those of the other tribes. But it must be borne in mind that the list given here contains the names of every Levitical city cities of the other tribes are mentioned which lay on the frontier or along the boundary line. Besides, the Levites were not the exclusive inhabitants of those forty-eight cities; for there must have been also a considerable number of people kept there to cultivate the glebe lands and tend the cattle. Still further, the Levitical cities had nothing but "their suburbs round about them" [ Joshua 21:42 ]; whereas the other cities in Israel possessed a group of independent villages (see Joshua 17:1-19:51').

Joshua 21:43-45 . GOD GAVE THEM REST.

43-45. the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers--This is a general winding up of the history from the thirteenth chapter, which narrates the occupation of the land by the Israelites. All the promises made, whether to the people or to Joshua ( Joshua 1:5 ), had been, or were in the course of being fulfilled; and the recorded experience of the Israelites ( Joshua 21:45 ), is a ground of hope and confidence to the people of God in every age, that all other promises made to the Church will, in due time, be accomplished.