Joshua 21:18

18 Anathoth, and Almon, together with their pastures - four towns.

Joshua 21:18 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 21:18

Anathoth with her suburbs
This is not mentioned among the cities of Benjamin, ( Joshua 18:11-28 ) ; it was the native place of the Prophet Jeremiah, (See Gill on Jeremiah 1:1); it lay about two or three miles north of Jerusalem; three, says, Jerom F11. Rauwolff F12 speaks of it as a small village, when he travelled into those parts, and as lying on a height or eminence, and which was within twenty furlongs of Jerusalem, as Josephus writes F13: and Almon with her suburbs;
this also is not mentioned among the cities of Benjamin, ( Joshua 18:11-28 ) ; it is called Alemeth, ( 1 Chronicles 6:60 ) . Jarchi and Kimchi say it is the same with Bahurim, ( 2 Samuel 3:16 ) ; where the Targum renders it by Almeth, and both words signify the same thing, "youth": four cities;
which were a large number for so small a tribe as little Benjamin to give.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 De loc. Heb. fol. 88. H.
F12 Travels, par. 3. c. 2. p. 216.
F13 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 7. sect. 3.

Joshua 21:18 In-Context

16 , Ain, Juttah, and Beth Shemesh, all with their accompanying pastures - nine towns from these two tribes.
17 And from the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon, Geba,
18 Anathoth, and Almon, together with their pastures - four towns.
19 The total for the cities and pastures for the priests descended from Aaron came to thirteen.
20 The rest of the Kohathite families from the tribe of Levi were assigned their cities by lot from the tribe of Ephraim:
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.