Joshua 21:1

The Allotment of the Levites

1 Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the tribes of the {Israelites}.

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 families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the tribes of the {Israelites}.

2 And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "Yahweh commanded through the hand of Moses to give us cities to live [in], with their pasturelands for our livestock."

3 So, {by command of Yahweh}, the {Israelites} gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands from their inheritance.

4 The allotment {fell} for the families of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, {received} by lot thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

5 The remaining descendants of Kohath [received] by lot ten cities from the families of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"