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Texts -- Joshua 21:1-18 (NET)

Context
Levitical Cities
21:1 The tribal leaders of the Levites went before Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the Israelite tribal leaders 21:2 in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said , “The Lord told Moses to assign us cities in which to live along with the grazing areas for our cattle .” 21:3 So the Israelites assigned these cities and their grazing areas to the Levites from their own holdings , as the Lord had instructed . 21:4 The first lot belonged to the Kohathite clans . The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen cities from the tribes of Judah , Simeon , and Benjamin . 21:5 The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten cities from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim , and from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh . 21:6 Gershon’s descendants were allotted thirteen cities from the clans of the tribe of Issachar , and from the tribes of Asher and Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan . 21:7 Merari’s descendants by their clans were allotted twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben , Gad , and Zebulun . 21:8 So the Israelites assigned to the Levites by lot these cities and their grazing areas , as the Lord had instructed Moses . 21:9 They assigned from the tribes of Judah and Simeon the cities listed below. 21:10 They were assigned to the Kohathite clans of the Levites who were descendants of Aaron , for the first lot belonged to them . 21:11 They assigned them Kiriath Arba (Arba was the father of Anak ), that is, Hebron , in the hill country of Judah , along with its surrounding grazing areas . 21:12 (Now the city’s fields and surrounding towns they had assigned to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his property .) 21:13 So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they assigned Hebron (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter ), Libnah , 21:14 Jattir , Eshtemoa , 21:15 Holon , Debir , 21:16 Ain , Juttah , and Beth Shemesh , along with the grazing areas of each– a total of nine cities taken from these two tribes . 21:17 From the tribe of Benjamin they assigned Gibeon , Geba , 21:18 Anathoth , and Almon , along with the grazing areas of each– a total of four cities .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Jacob blessed all 12 of his sons and foretold what would become of each of them and their descendants. He disqualified Reuben, Simeon, and Levi from leadership and gave that blessing to Judah. He granted the double portion to...
  • The previous chapter dealt with the general borders of the land and its tribal boundaries. This one gives regulations concerning special towns in the land.285According to the plan of revelation established previously in Numbe...
  • Six of these Levitical towns were also cities of refuge.The appointment of cities of refuge was a divine provision for the safety of a killer who was not guilty of premeditated murder (cf. Deut. 19:1-13; Josh. 20:1-9). God ha...
  • I. The conquest of the land chs. 1-12A. Preparations for entering Canaan chs. 1-21. God's charge to Joshua 1:1-92. Joshua's charge to Israel 1:10-183. The spying out of Jericho ch. 2B. Entrance into the land 3:1-5:121. Passag...
  • In one sense verses 1-9 are a preamble to the whole book. They contain the basic principles that were to guide Joshua and Israel so they could obtain all that God had promised their forefathers.1:1 The first word of the book ...
  • The residents of the town of Gibeon decided that if they could not defeat the Israelites they would join them. This has been a strategy that enemies of believers have employed for centuries (cf. Num. 25:1-2).9:1-2 Israel is t...
  • The writer identified 31 kings in the order in which Joshua defeated them."Many of the same names appear in the Amarna letters, thus confirming the historicity of our text."158"The description was not complete. Shechem is not...
  • Chapters 13-24 describe how Joshua divided the land and the results of that division. Many if not all the Israelite tribes did not conquer or control all the land allotted to them (15:63; 16:10; 17:12-13). The record of the a...
  • After the process of assigning land to the three tribes mentioned above, Israel's attention turned to relocating the tabernacle in a more central location (v. 1). God undoubtedly made the choice of Shiloh (lit. rest; cf. Deut...
  • Probably the leaders identified the towns first and then assigned the various groups of Levites to particular cities by lot (vv. 3-4). The priests (Aaron's descendants) received 13 cities within the tribal territories of Juda...
  • The Lord spread out the priests' 13 towns as follows. Nine were in Judah and Simeon (vv. 9-16), and four were in Benjamin (vv. 17-19)....
  • There were 12 towns in which the Merarites resided: four in Zebulun (vv. 34-35), four in Reuben (vv. 36-37), and four in Gad (vv. 38-39).In all, the Levites received 48 cities with their surrounding pasture lands including th...
  • These verses conclude the account of the division of the land proper (chs. 13-21; cf. 1:2-6; 11:23). They bind the two parts of the second half of the book together. They form a theological conclusion to the entire book up to...
  • The main part of the second half of the Book of Joshua dealing with the division of the land ends with the appointment of the Levitical cities (chs. 13-21). The rest of the book deals with settlement in the land (chs. 22-24)....
  • The 11 tribes wisely tried to settle this problem with the Benjamites peacefully (v. 12; cf. Josh. 22:13-20). Unfortunately the Benjamites decided to support the residents of Gibeah who were their kinsmen. They should have si...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • Bethshemesh was the closest Israelite town to Ekron. It stood about 12 miles east-southeast of Ekron. To get there the cows walked east up the Sorek Valley, Samson's home area. Evidently the Israelites who were reaping their ...
  • Most of the prophetical books begin with some indication of authorship and date to put them in their historical contexts, and this is true of the Book of Jeremiah.1:1 The words (Heb. debarim, writings, prophecies, deeds, and ...
  • This is the sixth and last message that Ezekiel received from the Lord the night before the refugees reached the exiles with the message that Jerusalem had fallen (cf. 33:21-22). It too deals with God's plans for Israel in th...
  • The tribe of Dan was to receive the northernmost section of the Promised Land. The order of tribes from north to south, north of the sacred district, was Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah--seven tribal...

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