Joshua 21 Study Notes

21:1-42 As Israel was given its inheritance in the preceding chapters, so it now gave back to God some of that inheritance for the use of the Levites. Their responsibility for the holy things of God meant they did not have time for the major occupation of the other Israelites—farming their land. See 1Ch 6:54-81 for a duplicate of this list of cities.

21:1-2 Eleazar at Shiloh recalls 18:1-10 and the distribution of the tribal allotments. This would be the Levites’ allotment.

21:2 The Lord’s command through Moses about the Levitical cities occurs in Nm 35:1-8, where the towns are not named.

21:4 Those Levites who were descendants of the priest Aaron would receive the cities closest to Jerusalem because their responsibilities required them to be close to the temple (Nm 18:1-6). These cities are listed in Jos 21:9-19.

21:5 The descendants of Kohath, second son of Levi (Gn 46:11), received their inheritance in the hill country, at that time the location of the ark, for which they were responsible in the wilderness (Nm 3:1; 4:15-20; 7:9). These cities are listed in Jos 21:20-26.

21:6 The descendants of Gershon, first son of Levi, had been responsible for the tabernacle’s coverings and other textiles (Nm 3:25-26; 4:24-26). They received cities in the northern tribal areas, listed in Jos 21:27-33.

21:7 Merari’s descendants, from Levi’s third son, guarded the tabernacle and transported its frames (Nm 1:47-53; 3:33-37; 4:29-33). They were given the Transjordanian and Zebulun Levitical cities, listed in Jos 21:34-40.

21:9-42 The forty-eight Levitical cities are listed and subdivided into four groups, with occasional notes. These are further subdivided by tribes with numerical totals after each grouping. This is characteristic of a longer town list (15:20-63).

21:43-44 The Lord fulfilled his promises. He gave Israel the land he had promised to them and their ancestors (1:3). God also gave the Israelites rest on every side just as he had promised (1:13).

21:45 The conclusion that everything was fulfilled shows how God kept his promises and how all the enemies of Israel that they fought against were defeated. Israel did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land, but this was not God’s responsibility. He kept his part of the covenant.