Joshua 21:1 ¶ Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; 2 And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. 3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs. 4 And the lot came out for the families of the 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, thirteen cities. 5 And the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. 6 And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. 7 The children of Merari by their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. 8 And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.
Joshua 21:9 ¶ And they gave
out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children
of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name, 10 Which the children of Aaron, being of
the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had:
for theirs was the first lot. 11 And
they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is
Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round
about
it. 12 But the fields of
the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for
his possession. 13 Thus they gave to the
children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of
refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs, 14 And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with
her suburbs, 15 And Holon with her
suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs, 16
And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and
Bethshemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with
her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs, 18
Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities.
19 All the cities of the children of
Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs. 20 And the families of the children of Kohath, the
Levites which remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of
their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21
For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be
a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs, 22 And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Bethhoron
with her suburbs; four cities. 23 And
out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs,
24 Aijalon with her suburbs, Gathrimmon
with her suburbs; four cities. 25 And
out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gathrimmon with
her suburbs; two cities. 26 All the
cities were ten with their suburbs for the families of the children of
Kohath that remained. 27 And unto the
children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other
half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to
be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beeshterah with her suburbs; two
cities. 28 And out of the tribe of
Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs, 29 Jarmuth with her suburbs, Engannim with her
suburbs; four cities. 30 And out of the
tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs, 31 Helkath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her
suburbs; four cities. 32 And out of the tribe
of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge
for the slayer; and Hammothdor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs;
three cities. 33 All the cities of the
Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their
suburbs. 34 And unto the families of the
children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of
Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,
35 Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal with
her suburbs; four cities. 36 And out of
the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs,
37 Kedemoth with her suburbs, and
Mephaath with her suburbs; four cities. 38
And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be
a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs, 39
Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in
all. 40 So all the cities for the
children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of
the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities. 41 All the cities of the Levites within the
possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with
their suburbs. 42 These cities were
every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all these
cities.
In verses 1 and 2 the Levites ask for cities to dwell in as they
were promised. Out of the tribes they are given cities and their environs, called
suburbs, for their cattle. We use the term suburbs today for smaller
towns and municipal entities outside of larger cities but here we can see that
it refers to an area outside of a town that would support cattle.
Joshua 21:43 ¶ And the LORD
gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and
they possessed it, and dwelt therein. 44
And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware
unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them;
the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 There failed not ought of any good thing
which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
For a brief period of time the Israelites have success and more
importantly peace in their conquest of Canaan. This will change in the time of
the Judges as we will see.
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