CHAPTER 21 Jun. 3 
Cities Given to the Levites
Then the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. 2They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan saying, Yahweh commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our livestock. 3The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Yahweh, these cities with their suburbs. 4The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin. 5The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh. 6The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. 7The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun. 8The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by lot to the Levites, as Yahweh commanded by Moses. 9They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name. 10They were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot. 11They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it. 12But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. 13To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah with its suburbs, 14Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs, 15Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, 16Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, 18Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities. 19All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs. 20The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs, 22Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs; four cities. 23Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs, 24Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; four cities. 25Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; two cities. 26All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs. 27They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah with its suburbs; two cities. 28Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, 29Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs; four cities. 30Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs, 31Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities. 32Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities. 33All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs. 34To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, Kartah with its suburbs, 35Dimnah with its suburbs and Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities. 36Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with its suburbs, 37Kedemoth with its suburbs and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities. 38Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, 39Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all. 40All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was twelve cities. 41All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs. 42Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It was this way with all these cities. 43So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which He swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it. 44Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that He swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Commentary

21:2 The implication could be that the people had been slack to give the Levites their cities. We get the impression that once they entered the land, it was every man for himself; very few saw the wider, larger picture of possessing the entire land and establishing a nationwide worship system whereby the Levites would teach the people about God. The people of God today can likewise be very self-centred rather than thinking what would be best for the community as a whole. The Levites’ request for an inheritance to be given them can be seen in continuity with Joshua, Caleb and Caleb’s daughter asking for a specific inheritance and being given it; whoever really wants to be in the Kingdom will be there, all who truly love Christ’s appearing (with all that true love implies) will be given salvation (2 Tim. 4:8). Maybe Jesus was alluding to these passages in Joshua when He taught that whoever asks will receive (Mt. 7:7). This isn’t a blank cheque promise, but rather saying that whoever really wants salvation and an inheritance in the Kingdom will receive it.
21:41 The Levites were one of the smallest tribes and yet were given 48 cities, far more cities than some of the larger tribes. This was perhaps because it was God’s intention to dramatically increase the number of the Levites if they were faithful (Ps. 115:12-14) in order to spiritually strengthen Israel yet more. But again, a great potential was set up by God, in some detail, but wasn’t realized because of human weakness.
21:43,44 The Lord gave them the land, i.e. potentially, but they failed to possess it. Yahweh gave them rest, and yet Heb. 4:8 says that Joshua did not give them rest, and therefore there remains this “rest” to be received by God’s people at Christ’s return. Is this therefore an implied criticism of Joshua, or of Israel? 
21:44 Not a man of all their enemies stood before them - But their enemies did stand before them, they didn't possess all the land. Yet God puts it over so positively, as if it's a story with a happy ending- when actually it's a tragedy. Even when rebuking them, God sees Israel as in some ways perfect (Num. 23:21; Is. 42:18-20). We stand related to the same grace, and should reflect it in being positive and gracious in our view of our brethren.
21:45 All came to pass- The promises by the Angel at the exodus came true in prospect; but tragically Israel did not make them good, so that in reality only a fraction of the blessings were realized. All of God’s people today have in a sense been given the Kingdom; but not all will possess it because not all want to.