Bible Commentaries

And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded ^a by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle.

(a) By Moses, by whose ministry God showed his power.

And the lot came out for the families of the ^b Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, [which were] of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, ^c thirteen cities.

(b) He means those that were priests: for some were but Levites.

(c) Every tribe gave more or fewer cities according to the size of their inheritance, (Numbers 35:8).

Which the children of ^d Aaron, [being] of the families of the Kohathites, [who were] of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot.

(d) For Aaron came from Kohath, and therefore the priests office remained in that family.

Thus they gave to the ^e children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, [to be] a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,

(e) That is, the priest of the family of the Kohathites, of whom Aaron was chief.

And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her ^f suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,

(f) The suburbs were a thousand cubits from the wall of the cities round about, (Numbers 35:4).

And the families of the children of Kohath, ^g the Levites which remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

(g) That were not priests.

For they gave them ^h Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, [to be] a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs,

(h) Hebron and Shechem were the two cities of refuge under the Kohathites.

And out of the ⁱ half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gathrimmon with her suburbs; two cities.

(i) Who dwelt in Canaan.

And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the [other] half tribe of Manasseh [they gave] ^k Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, [to be] a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beeshterah with her suburbs; two cities.

(k) Golan and Kedesh were the cities of refuge under the Gershonites.

And unto the families of the children of Merari, the ^l rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,

(l) They are here called the rest, because they are last numbered, and Merari was the younger brother, (Genesis 46:11).

And out of the tribe of Reuben, ^m Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs,

(m) Bezer and Ramoch were the cities of refuge under the Merarites and beyond Jordan, (Joshua 20:8).

All the cities of the Levites ⁿ within the possession of the children of Israel [were] forty and eight cities with their suburbs.

(n) Thus according to Jacob's prophecy they were scattered throughout the country, which God used so that his people might be instructed in the true religion by them.