Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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;
Ch. Jos 21:1-3. The Demand of the Levites
1. Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites ] “The princes of the meynees of Leuy,” Wyclif. All the descendants of Jacob had now been provided for save the sons of Levi. The dying patriarch had spoken solemnly and sadly of this tribe, as also of that named after his second son (Gen 49:5-7),
“Simeon and Levi are brethren;
Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
I will divide them in Jacob,
And scatter them in Israel.”
Like other prophecies and promises of Scripture, his words were destined to be moulded and modified by subsequent events. How they were fulfilled in the history of Simeon we have already seen. But though they were still more literally fulfilled in the case of the children of Levi, “the curse was with them turned into a blessing.” Their zeal and fidelity were put to the proof and not found wanting on the occasion of the terrible apostasy at Horeb (Exo 32:25-29), and although they were still destined to be “divided in Jacob,” it was as the successors of the earlier priesthood of the first-born and representatives of the holiness of the people. “As the Tabernacle was the outward and visible sign of the presence among the people of their invisible King, so the Levites were to be, among the other tribes of Israel, as the royal body-guard that waited exclusively on Him” (Num 1:47-54; Num 3:5-13).
unto Eleazar the priest ] The duties they had already discharged during the wanderings in the wilderness could not fail to be much modified by the settlement in the Promised Land and the establishment of the Tabernacle in a fixed locality. They themselves now needed a fixed abode, and the heads of the tribe, therefore, approached the High Priest and the distributors of the land, and requested that adequate provision might be made for their requirements.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A list of the Levitical cities, varying in some particulars from that given in this chapter, is also, given in 1 Chr. 6:54-81.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jos 21:1-45
Unto the Levites . . . these cities.
Ministers liberally treated
The liberality both of God and of His people to the ministers of God is here very marvellous, in giving forty-eight cities to this one tribe of Levi, which was the least of all the tribes, yet have they the most cities given to them (Jos 21:4; Jos 21:10; Jos 21:41), because it was the Lords pleasure to have this tribe provided for in an honourable manner, seeing He Himself took upon Him to be their portion and made choice of them for His peculiar service; therefore did He deal thus bountifully with His ministers, partly to put honour upon those whom He foresaw many would be prone to despise, and partly that by this liberality they, being freed from worldly distractions, might more entirely devote themselves to Gods service and to the instruction of souls. (C. Ness.)
Ministers wisely located
God provided for the residence of His ministers in most ample extent and number, and in a way suited to the spiritual instruction and benefit of the nation. In temple service they were round about the habitation of His holiness; and yet, in their ministerial instructions, dispersed over the whole land. How exact a fulfilment of dying Jacobs prediction, and that even though mercy changed the curse into a blessing: I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. What an important appointment! and how adapted to the communication and diffusion of Divine truth for their lips, as the messengers of the Lord of hosts, were to keep knowledge, and at their mouth the people were to seek the law! It is no common privilege, under the more exalted and distinguished dispensation of the gospel, that the ministers of salvation are not removed into a corner, but that as servants of the most high God they have their stations assigned them, as may best promote the increase and instruction of the Church. These are the stars which He holds in His right hand, and which, great in wisdom and power, He numbers and calls by their names, What holy and heavenly light and influence are they ordained to impart in their several spheres! Without them the Christian Church would soon be involved in the most degrading and destructive ignorance, and overwhelmed with the miseries of corruption and error. Who that admits the importance of their services would not yield room to them as being equally a privilege as a duty. Their residence is to be esteemed a mercy, and no intrusion. Thus it has appeared that the Lord has ever paid special regard to His ministers, and as here enjoined upon His people, in obligation the most reasonable, to provide them habitations as well as support. (W. Seaton.)
There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken.
Divine faithfulness
I. The faithfulness of God in accomplishing his engagements toward the tribes of Israel.
II. The faithfulness of God to his church collectively in subsequent engagements.
III. The faithfulness of God in his engagements to individual believers. I believe there is no person experiencing the power of religion who has not had an increasing evidence of the faithfulness of God in verifying His promises on which He has caused him to hope. He has found–notwithstanding the dark appearances of Divine providence–he has found that sort of satisfaction which he was taught to expect from the exercise of faith and confidence in Jesus Christ and obedience to Him. He has found, in seasons of pain and difficulty, that kind of assistance on which he was taught to rely. The faithfulness of God in performing His promises at present must, however, be in a great degree obscured by the darkness of our present state; for everything is in perpetual motion. No one can understand the nature of a beautiful building in the rubbish, or, while it is actually rising, in the midst of the complicated instruments used in its erection, but we must wait till it is finished before we can form a just estimate of its beauty. And with respect to that great hope of which the possession of Canaan was but a shadow and figure–the possession of the heavenly inheritance–in a very short time every real believer will be able to put his seal to the truth of the Divine promise. Let us rejoice that we have a covenant of God, and a covenant ordered in all things and sure, which is all our salvation and all our desire. And first, by way of improvement, let us observe the propriety of remembering the way in which the Lord God hath led us. If we consider the trials and sorrows of the present life as a part of that holy dispensation, in that proportion shall we be disposed to glorify God. If we trace the hand of man in these events, this may produce disquietude; but if we could extend our view to the furthest limit, all this would frequently be matter of gratitude, and we should be enabled to give thanks to God in everything. Let us look forward to that state in which we shall have His kindness fully displayed. (R. Hall, M. A.)
The triumphant record of Gods faithfulness
Verses 43-45 are the trophy reared on the battlefield, like the lion of Marathon, which the Greeks set on its sacred soil. But the only name inscribed on this monument is Jehovahs. Other memorials of victories have borne the pompous titles of commanders who arrogated the glory to themselves; but the Bible knows of only one conqueror, and that is God. The help that is done on earth, He doeth it all Himself. The military genius and heroic constancy of Joshua, the eagerness for perilous honour that flamed, undimmed by age, in Caleb, the daring and strong arms of many a humbler private in the ranks, have their due recognition and reward; but when the history that tells of these comes to sum up the whole, and to put the philosophy of the conquest into a sentence, it has only one name to speak as cause of Israels victory. That is the true point of view from which to look at the history of the world and of the Church in the world. The difference between the miraculous conquest of Canaan and the ordinary facts of history is not that God did the one and men do the other; both are equally, though in different methods, His acts. In the field of human affairs, as in the realm of nature, God is immanent, though in the former His working is complicated by the mysterious power of mans will to set itself in antagonism to His; while yet, in manner insoluble to us, His will is supreme. The very powers which are arrayed against Him are His gift, and the issue which they finally subserve is His appointment. It does not need that we should be able to pierce to the bottom of the bottomless in order to attain and hold fast by the great conviction that there is no power but of God, and that from Him are all things and to Him are all things. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Divine fidelity acknowledged
We may note, too, in these verses, the threefold repetition of the one thought, of Gods punctual and perfect fulfilment of His word. He gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give; He gave them rest . . . according to all that He sware; there failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken. It is the joy of thankful hearts to compare the promise with the reality, to lay the one upon the other, as it were, and to declare how precisely their, outlines correspond. The finished building is exactly according to the plans drawn long before. God gives us the power of checking His work, and we are unworthy to receive His gifts if we do not take delight in marking and proclaiming how completely He has fulfilled His contract. It is no small part of Christian duty, and a still greater part of Christian blessedness, to do this. Many a fulfilment passes unnoticed, and many a joy, which might be sacred and sweet as a token of love from His own hand, remains common and unhallowed, because we fail to see that it is a fulfilled promise. The eye that is trained to watch for Gods being as good as His word will never have long to wait for proofs that He is. Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. And to such an one faith will become easier, being sustained by experience; and a present thus manifestly studded with indications of Gods faithfulness will merge into a future still fuller of these. For it does not need that we should wait for the end of the war to have many a token that His every word is true. The struggling soldier can say, No good thing has failed of all that the Lord has spoken. We look, indeed, for completer fulfilment when the fighting is done; but there are brooks by the way for the warriors in the thick of the fight, of which they drink, and, refreshed, lift up the head. We need not postpone this glad acknowledgment till we can look back and down from the land of peace on the completed campaign, but may rear this trophy on many a field, whilst still we look for another conflict to-morrow. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Supreme Worker
We read that on a pyramid in Egypt the name and sounding titles of the king in whose reign it was erected were blazoned on the plaster facing, but beneath that transitory inscription the name of the architect was hewn, imperishable, in the granite, and stood out when the plaster dropped away. So, when all the short-lived records which ascribe the events of the Churchs progress to her great men have perished, the one name of the true Builder will shine out, and to the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. Let us not rely on our own skill, courage, talents, orthodoxy, or methods, nor try to build tabernacles for the witnessing servants beside the central one for the supreme Lord, but ever seek to deepen our conviction that Christ, and Christ only, gives all their powers to all, and that to Him, and Him only, is all victory to be ascribed. It is an elementary and simple truth; but if we really lived in its power we should go into the battle with more confidence, and come out of it with less self-gratulation. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXI
The Levites apply to Eleazar, Joshua, and the elders, for the
cities to dwell in which Moses had promised, 1, 2.
Their request is granted, 3.
The priests receive thirteen cities out of the tribes of Judah,
Simeon, and Benjamin, 4.
The Levites receive ten cities out of the tribes of Ephraim,
Dan, and the half tribe of Manasseh, 5;
and thirteen out of the other half tribe of Manasseh, and the
tribes of Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali, 6.
The children of Merari had twelve cities out of the tribes of
Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun, 7.
The names of the cities given out of the tribes of Judah and
Simeon, 8-16.
Those granted out of the tribe of Benjamin, 17-19.
Out of Ephraim, 20-22.
Those out of Dan, 23, 24.
Those out of both the halves of the tribe of Manasseh, 25-27.
Those out of the tribe of Issachar, 28, 29.
Those out of Asher, 30, 31.
Those out of Naphtali, 32.
These were the cities of the Gershonites, 33.
The cities of the Merarites, 34-40.
The sum of the cities given to the Levites, forty-eight, 41, 42.
The exact fulfilment of all God’s promises, 43-45.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXI.
Verse 1. The heads of the fathers of the Levites] The Levites were composed of three brand families, the Gershonites, Koathites, and Merarites, independently of the family of Aaron, who might be said to form a fourth. To none of these had God assigned any portion in the division of the land. But in this general division it must have been evidently intended that the different tribes were to furnish them with habitations; and this was according to a positive command of God, Nu 35:2, &c. Finding now that each tribe had its inheritance appointed to it, the heads of the Levites came before Eleazar, Joshua, and the chiefs of the tribes who had been employed in dividing the land, and requested that cities and suburbs should be granted them according to the Divine command.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then, i.e. when the whole land was distributed unto the several tribes, but not actually possessed by them; which was the proper season for them to put in their claim.
The fathers of the Levites were Kohath, Gershom, and Merari, and the heads of these were the chief persons now alive of these several families.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-3. Then came near the heads of thefathers of the LevitesThe most venerable and distinguishedmembers of the three Levitical families, on behalf of their tribe,applied for the special provision that had been promised them to benow awarded (see on Nu 35:2). Theirinheritance lay within the territory of every tribe. It was assignedin the same place and manner, and by the same commissioners as theother allotments. While the people, knowing the important duties theywere to perform, are described (Jos21:3) as readily conceding this “peculiar” to them, ithad most probably been specified and reserved for their use while thedistribution of the land was in progress.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites,…. When the land was divided to the several tribes, and everyone knew the cities that belonged to them, and what they could and should part with to the Levites, and when the six cities of refuge were fixed; the Levites came to put in their claim for cities of habitation, they having no share in the division of the land; and yet it was necessary they should have habitations; the persons that undertook to put in a claim for them were the principal men among them; the fathers of them were Kohath, Gershon, and Merari; the heads of those were the chief men that were then living: these came
unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun; the high priest and chief magistrate:
and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; the princes appointed to divide the land with the two great personages before mentioned, Nu 34:17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After the cities of refuge had been set apart, the towns were also selected, which the different tribes were to give up for the priest and Levites to dwell in according to the Mosaic instructions in Num 35:1-8, together with the necessary fields as pasturage for their cattle. The setting apart of the cities of refuge took place before the appointment of the Levitical towns, because the Lord had given commandment through Moses in Num 35:6, that they were to give to the Levites the six cities of refuge, and forty-two cities besides, i.e., forty-eight cities in all. From the introductory statement in Jos 21:1, Jos 21:2, that the heads of the fathers (see Exo 6:14, Exo 6:25) of the Levitical families reminded the distribution committee at Shiloh of the command of God that had been issued through Moses, that towns were to be given them to dwell in, we cannot infer, as Calvin has done, that the Levites had been forgotten, till they came and asserted their claims. All that is stated in these words is, “that when the business had reached that point, they approached the dividers of the land in the common name of the members of their tribe, to receive by lot the cities appointed for them. They simply expressed the commands of God, and said in so many words, that they had been deputed by the Levites generally to draw lots for those forty-eight cities with their suburbs, which had been appointed for that tribe” ( Masius). The clause appended to Shiloh, “ in the land of Canaan,” points to the instructions in Num 34:29 and Num 35:10, to give the children of Israel their inheritance in the land of Canaan.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Cities of the Levites. | B. C. 1444. |
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.
Here is, I. The Levites’ petition presented to this general convention of the states, now sitting at Shiloh, Jos 21:1; Jos 21:2. Observe, 1. They had not their lot assigned them till they made their claim. There is an inheritance provided for all the saints, that royal priesthood, but then they must petition for it. Ask, and it shall be given you. Joshua had quickened the rest of the tribes who were slack to put in their claims, but the Levites, it may be supposed, knew their duty and interest better than the rest, and were therefore forward in this matter, when it came to their turn, without being called upon. They build their claim upon a very good foundation, not their own merits nor services, but the divine precept: “The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities, commanded you to grant them, which implied a command to us to ask them.” Note, The maintenance of ministers is not an arbitrary thing, left purely to the good-will of the people, who may let them starve if they please; no, as the God of Israel commanded that the Levites should be well provided for, so has the Lord Jesus, the King of the Christian church, ordained, and a perpetual ordinance it is that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel (1 Cor. ix. 14), and should live comfortably. 2. They did not make their claim till all the rest of the tribes were provided for, and then they did it immediately. There was some reason for it; every tribe must first know their own, else they would not know what they gave the Levites, and so it could not be such a reasonable service as it ought to be. But it is also an instance of their humility, modesty, and patience (and Levites should be examples of these and other virtues), that they were willing to be served last, and they fared never the worse for it. Let not God’s ministers complain if at any time they find themselves postponed in men’s thoughts and cares, but let them make sure of the favour of God and the honour that comes from him, and then they may well enough afford to bear the slights and neglects of men.
II. The Levites’ petition granted immediately, without any dispute, the princes of Israel being perhaps ashamed that they needed to be called upon in this matter, and that the motion had not been made among themselves for the settling of the Levites. 1. The children of Israel are said to give the cities for the Levites. God had appointed how many they should be in all, forty-eight. It is probable that Joshua and the princes, upon consideration of the extent and value of the lot of each tribe as it was laid before them, had appointed how many cities should be taken out of each; and then the fathers of the several tribes themselves agreed which they should be, and therefore are said to give them, as an offering, to the Lord; so God had appointed. Num. xxxv. 8, Every one shall give of his cities to the Levites. Here God tried their generosity, and it was found to praise and honour, for it appears by the following catalogue that the cities they gave to the Levites were generally some of the best and most considerable in each tribe. And it is probable that they had an eye to the situation of them, taking care they should be so dispersed as that no part of the country should be too far distant from a Levites’ city. 2. They gave them at the commandment of the Lord, that is, with an eye to the command and in obedience to it, which was it that sanctified the grant. They gave the number that God commanded, and it was well this matter was settled that the Levites might not ask more nor the Israelites offer less. They gave them also with their suburbs, or glebe-lands, belonging to them, so many cubits by measure from the walls of the city, as God had commanded (Num 35:4; Num 35:5), and did not go about to cut them short. 3. When the forty-eight cities were pitched upon, they were divided into four lots, as they lay next together, and then by lot were determined to the four several families of the tribe of Levi. When the Israelites had surrendered the cities into the hand of God, he would himself have the distributing of them among his servants. (1.) The family of Aaron, who were the only priests, had for their share the thirteen cities that were given by the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, v. 4. God in wisdom ordered it thus, that though Jerusalem itself was not one of their cities, it being as yet in the possession of the Jebusites (and those generous tribes would not mock the Levites, who had another warfare to mind, with a city that must be recovered by the sword before it could be enjoyed), yet the cities that fell to their lot were those which lay next to Jerusalem, because that was to be, in process of time, the holy city, where their business would chiefly lie. (2.) The Kohathite-Levites (among whom were the posterity of Moses, though never distinguished from them) had the cities that lay in the lot of Dan, which lay next to Judah, and in that of Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, which lay next to Benjamin. So those who descended from Aaron’s father joined nearest to Aaron’s sons. (3.) Gershon was the eldest son of Levi, and therefore, though the younger house of the Kohathites was preferred before his, yet his children had the precedency of the other family of Merari, v. 6. (4.) The Merarites, the youngest house, had their lot last, and it lay furthest off, v. 7. The rest of the sons of Jacob had a lot for every tribe only, but Levi, God’s tribe, had a lot for each of its families; for there is a particular providence directing and attending the removals and settlements of ministers, and appointing where those shall fix who are to be the lights of the world.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Joshua – Chapter 21
Levity Cities, Vs. 1-8
When all the tribes had received their land allotment the chief men of the tribe of Levi came to request their cities as had been promised them.
Over and over it has been emphasized that they were to receive no inheritance of land, but that their inheritance was to be the Lord. They had been promised homes in the cities of the tribes, with the adjoining suburbs, or rural areas in which to keep their flocks and herds.
Aaron was the first to be informed of this arrangement of the Lord (Num 18:20), and afterwards to that particular time it had been mentioned in the Scriptures eight more times in Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. However, the Levitical law had anticipated the fact earlier (Lev 25:32 ff) and provided for their welfare.
There were three families of the Levites, Kohath, Gershon, and Merari. But the Kohathites also contained the families of the priests, who formed a fourth division. In the assignment of the cities the priest families received thirteen in the bounds of the three southernmost tribes.
The rest of the Kohathite families received ten cities in the central tribes, the Gershonites thirteen in two northern tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh in the east. The Merarites had their twelve cities in the other eastern tribes and Zebulun in the north.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Then came near the heads, etc Here we have at a later period a narrative of what ought to have preceded. For no cities of refuge were appointed before they had been assigned to the Levites. To this may be added what was formerly said, that Joshua and Eleazar had made an end of dividing the land. Now, the land was not truly divided till the habitation of the Levites was fixed. We must understand, therefore, that when the lot was cast in the name of the ten tribes, a reservation was made of cities in the land of Canaan for the habitation of the Levites. Beyond the Jordan their portion had already been assigned to them. But as the Levites come forward and request a ratification of the divine grant, it is probable that they were neglected till they pleaded their own cause. For so it is apt to happen, every one being so attentive in looking after his own affairs that even brethren are forgotten. It was certainly disgraceful to the people that they required to be pulled by the ear, and put in mind of what the Lord had clearly ordered respecting the Levites. But had they not demanded a domicile for themselves, there was a risk of their being left to lie in the open air; although, at the same time, we are permitted to infer that the people erred more from carelessness and forgetfulness than from any intention to deceive, as they make no delay as soon as they are admonished; nay, they are praised for their obedience in that they did what was just and right according to the word of the Lord.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE DIVISION OF THE LAND
Joshua, Chapters 13 to 19 and 21, 22.
Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed (Jos 13:1). This is the land that yet remaineth, etc.
MEN grow old differently. Some men remain hale and hearty. Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated (Deu 34:7). Others are weighted with years, and feebleness is their lot. Joshua has been a mighty man; and yet, more than a century has swept over his head, and the Lord is reminding him that the end is near, and what remains to be done must have prompt attention. When the field yet to be occupied is Divinely surveyed, its immensity astonishes us, and suggests an essential truth, namely, that no matter what battles have been successfully fought, and what great victories have been won, there remaineth always much land to be possessed. One of the sad things about growing old exists in that very circumstance. What man ever accomplished marvelous resultsresults that amazed his fellows, without realizing that what he has done is small beside what he would like to live to do?
Youth has its ideals, and age sometimes experiences the realization of those ideals to a large degree, but in the very process of accomplishment, larger things have loomed before the worker; greater plans have evolved, and when life is drawing to a close, one feels that he has only succeeded in laying foundations, and yearns to live that he
might build thereon. But time moves, and the man who puts his stamp permanently upon it must remember his numbered days and wisely utilize till the last.
This division of the land relates itself to the twelve tribes, and in the appointments there will necessarily result some disputations.
THE EAST SIDE
This received first attention, as is shown in chapter 13.
There were conquests yet to be accomplished. We will not attempt to follow these borders and to show the exact location and limitation of each tribal occupancy. That were a work of super-erogation. Almost any good Bible carries a map showing these tribal locations in colors, and a moments glance of the eye at such a diagram would accomplish more than extended discussion. Let us learn, rather, the spiritual significance of this further occupancy of the soil.
What man ever lives long enough to do all that he ought to do; to put down all the enemies that ought to be trampled under his feet; to occupy all the territory that he himself should conquer? Not one! On the other hand, the best that we can do is to hope in our successors. Christ Himself was shut up to that necessity. When Luke came to write the Book of the Acts, he said, The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach (Act 1:1). How strange a sentence to employ with reference to the Son of God! We thought Jesus finished. Did He not say on the cross, It is finished? Was not His work in the world complete before the last breath went from His body? Nay, verily! He completed but one task and that was to make an atonement for the people. As for His deeds and His teaching, they were only beginnings; as for the progress of His church, it was in its infancy; as for the bringing in of His kingdom, that was a far-off event. He only began to do and to teach. His disciples, His Church; they must carry on. Joshua must die, but Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, must occupy the East Side. It was theirs to complete what Moses and Joshua had commenced; it was theirs to inherit and subdue the plains of Moab on the other side of Jordan by Jericho eastward.
The pledge of Moses was now to be fulfilled to them. The Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward (Jos 13:8).
Joshua, then, was not to settle the question of that section. It was settled already; but Joshua was Gods agent to make good to Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh what Moses pledged.
In Jesus, our Joshua, we find both the execution of the law and the fulfillment of prophecy. It is in Him that we have both made sure to all believers.
The Lord was to be the portion of the Levites. But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as He said unto them (Jos 13:33).
That sounds like scant treatment, but, as a matter of fact, thats a declaration of great riches. What man is to be envied as that man who has the Lord for his inheritance? Is he not the richest and the most honored of all men? Is he not to be the most envied of all heirs? Can he not sing with good occasion,
My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are fullHe has riches untold.
Im a child of the King, a child of the King!
With Jesus, my Saviour, Im a child of the King?
Moses fell heir to honor and fortune. His adoption into Pharaohs house made him the child of both, but the day came when he deliberately chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward (Heb 11:25-26).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE WEST SIDE
Chapters 14 to 21.
The apportionment was in fulfillment of prophecy. If one doubts that prophecy is the mold of history, let him read the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis and follow it with chapters fourteen to twenty-one of Joshua, and he will discover that these tribes were finally located, as Jacob, the father of twelve, declared when dying.
Who will say that life is a lottery, that affairs are mere accidents? Who will doubt that the end is known to God from the beginning, or say that He operates without a plan? Who will claim that a blind force, known as Energy, or Nature, is weaving the web of human history? Certainly not the man who has intelligently studied his Bible.
The apportionment expressed the estimate of the tribe. These tribes do not fare alike. Apparently no effort whatever is made to put them on an equal basis. Back in Num 26:54-55, it was written concerning this very distribution of the land,
To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.
Notwithstanding the Land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.
There is a difference, then, between the lot of men-shuffling, and the lot that God employs. The first is a mere chance, and by it the noblest may be cheated. The last is an absolute science and expresses a perfect judgment. Gods lots work no injustice. The principle employed in the distribution of these lands to the nine and one-half tribes, or, for that matter, to the twelve tribes, is the principle of the New Testament parable of the talents, where to one the absent Lord gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability (Mat 25:15).
Thats the basis, doubtless, of the apportionment to the tribes. God knew what ones of them would conquer a mountain; what ones of them would clear a forest; what ones of them would cultivate a plain; what ones of them would make to blossom a desert, and distributed them accordingly.
The occupancy of America illustrates the fact that God does not cease to give men opportunity according to their several abilities, nor quit locating them according to character and custom. Who will doubt that the Mississippi region and almost our entire southern border was intelligently occupied by the Spanish; that the northeast states flourish the better in the possession of English, Irish and Scotch; that the central west was adapted to the German; the northwest to the Scandinavian? A little careful study will illustrate the fact that these occupations were not mere accidents, but in each and every instance the people possessing were adapted to the climatic and industrial conditions of the particular section settled.
The Levite occupied the entire land. He had no territory that he could claim, but he was given a place in certain cities and distributed among all the tribes. There was a double reason for that fact. First, every tribe needed both the service and ensample of the Levite. Any people who propose to occupy a land, and have among them no ministers, will eventually demonstrate that irreligion cannot create a successful state, and never in history has built a strong nation.
Again, distributed through the nations, they could have their living by the nations. Every community, in self-interest, should sustain a priest unto Goda minister of the Divine will, and if the law of God is regarded, every ten families in the world could maintain a minister and let him live on an absolute equality with them, for that is the law of the tithe. And when one has his living and the conscious presence of the Lord, what greater riches are needed? Let David sing of such, The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage (Psa 16:5-6).
POINTS OF DISPUTATION
The reading of these nine chapters brings us face to face with the fact that humanity is the same in all ages. It would not be expected that so intricate a service as the location of so many people could be accomplished without dispute. In some instances, that dispute would be short-lived, and for the most part, a cordial discussion; and in others, it would border on battle itself. To three of these, let us call brief attention. First,
Caleb presented an unselfish and righteous claim to the mountain. The record of this is found in the fourteenth chapter, Jos 14:6-15. In this record, Caleb reminds Joshua of Moses promise to him. It must then have been understood that Moses was Gods man and that his word was regarded of God. It is a great thing to so live that men will look on our word as Gods Word, and even after we are buried, will appeal to what we have spoken as truth too sacred to be forgotten and disregarded. Caleb claims that Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy childrens for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God (Jos 14:9).
Again, there is a bit of an old mans boast in Calebs words, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. We are not condemning Caleb for making it; we are admiring him, rather. It is a fine thing for an old man to feel his strength and to believe that, no matter how many years have passed over his head, he is still equal to war, still ready to meet giants and drive them out. We have a few such old men friends! They are a joy, an encouragement, an inspirationgreat men who renew their strength in God and who, to their last breath, do valiant battle.
Caleb was the one man that joined Joshua in making a report on the land of Canaan, and in that report he admitted that there were giants in the mountains, but declared, We are well able to overcome it.
Forty-five years have swept by, and the indomitable spirit still lives, and Caleb, even now, illustrates the truth of the words spoken when he was yet a young man. He conquered because he hath wholly followed the Lord God.
The fifteenth chapter records
Achsahs request for springs of water. Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, and when he went forth to conquer, and found Kirjath-sepher a stronghold difficult to take, he proposed to give his daughter in marriage to the man who should conquer it, and Othniel, his brother, accepted the challenge and effected the conquest.
Evidently Achsah was a woman of spirit and craved more than had fallen to her lot, and consequently, when her timid husband would not ask, she requested of Caleb a blessing, and an addition to her southland springs of water, and he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs. This, also, is suggestive. Who is content to dwell in an arid land when the Father has springs in His control, and who will doubt that these springs have their symbolic meaning, their spiritual suggestion?
Do we not recall that marvelous chapter in Johns Gospel when Christ met the woman at the well and asked her to give Him to drink, and she answered,
How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of Me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto Him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (Joh 4:9-14).
Let us not hesitate to ask our Father for water, Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isa 12:3).
Finally, the schismatic altar of Reuben and Gad. The record of this is in the twenty-second chapter. This was a dispute that approached the fatal. The altar erected by Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, was misjudged by the congregation of the Children of Israel. They looked upon it as a departure from the Lord and they proposed to abolish it, and, if need be, destroy their brethren rather than suffer such an altar to live. Was their spirit wrong? Yes and No. They were not wrong in deciding that no false altar should live; they were not wrong in determining that rather than permit its existence, they would indulge in a civil war. War is horrible, and of all wars, a war between brethren is the most to be deplored. But there are some things worse than war, and idolatry is one of them, and sin is one of them. They had already seen what the sin of Achan had wrought. They had witnessed thousands of their brethren perish because Gods Word had been disregarded, and they did not propose to pass through a kindred experience and be silent on the subject. In that they were righta thousand times right.
The church that supposes itself to be Christian because its officials and members are so good-natured that they will not quarrel with the false teacher in their midst, is a church guilty of the grossest folly. The time will come when that very teaching will divide and disrupt the body, and, in all probability, destroy it altogether. History has illustrations in hundreds of cases of this identical result. Far better to call a brother to account for his false altars and false philosophy and false religion than to keep the peace.
But, on the other hand, the nine and one-half tribes were mistaken in supposing this was a false altar, and mistaken in their judgment of the motive that erected it. We want to be sure that men who are not worshiping in our particular house are thereby men who have departed from God before we fight against them. The old denominational controversies that raged white-hot were, for the most part, unjustifiable. The refusal to fellowship a man, and the proposal to fight a man because he approaches God in other ceremonials than we employ, or other sanctuaries than we have erected, is far from Christian. The great question is, Does he worship God and acknowledge the Lordship of His Son Jesus Christ, and the guidance of His Holy Spirit? If so, he is our brother, and with his conduct we should be pleased, and the altar of true worship should be a witness between us that the Lord is God.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE CITIES FOR THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 21:1. The heads of the fathers] On this phrase, cf. note on chap. Jos. 14:1. The fathers of the tribe of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Gen. 46:11; Exo. 6:16). From the Kohathites sprang the priestly family of Aaron. Hence the order of precedence was not the apparent order of birth. In the duties of the Levitical service the Kohathites stood first, the Gershonites next, and the Merarites last. This is also the order in which the lots were drawn for the three branches of the tribe.
Jos. 21:4-8. And the lot came out for the families, etc.] These five verses give a short summary of the distribution, shewing the tribes among which each branch of the Levites settled, and the number of the cities apportioned to each. The Aaronites had thirteen cities, the rest of the Kohathites ten cities, the Gershonites thirteen cities, and the Merarites twelve cities. The remainder of the chapter records the details of the distribution. Most of the cities given to the Levites have already been noticed in the distribution made of them to the tribes.
Jos. 21:5. The rest of the children of Kohath] These were the descendants of Amram through Moses, and the entire posterity of Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel (Exo. 6:18; Num. 3:19).
Jos. 21:12. Gave they to Caleb] If the fields, belonging to the Levites, were thus left in the hands of the tribe, by whom the city had been given up, the Levites cannot have been the sole inhabitants of these cities. For, if they were, where can the Israelites have lived, by whom the land was cultivated! We must certainly assume that the Levites only received as many houses in the cities assigned them, as their numerical strength required, and that it was these which remained in their hands as an inalienable possession. At least, there were in the cities as many other inhabitants as were necessary to cultivate the soil. Moreover, the law (Lev. 25:32-34) which prohibited the perpetual alienation of the houses of the Levites, and the sale of the pasture land belonging to their cities, in addition to its provision that, if sold, the houses should revert to the Levites in the year of Jubilee, presupposed that there would be other Israelites besides the Levites living in the Levitical cities. At the same time it proves that the Levites held the houses allotted to them, not merely as usufructuarii, but as owners and landlords in full possession. [Keil.]
Jos. 21:15. Holon] In 1Ch. 6:58, called Hilen. It has not been identified.
Jos. 21:16. Ain] Given as Ashan in the list of priests cities in 1Ch. 6:59. Keil thinks that the latter passage probably contains the correct reading. This seems very doubtful. Just as the Holon of Jos. 15:51; Jos. 21:15, is in the text in Chronicles altered to Hilen, so Ain appears to have been changed to Ashan. Ain and Ashan are more than once mentioned in the same verse as distinct and separata cities (chap. Jos. 19:7; 1Ch. 4:32), situated near to each other, and belonging to Simeon.
Jos. 21:18. Anathoth] Conspicuous in later history as the birthplace of Jeremiah (Jer. 1:1, etc.). It was also the native town of Abiezer, one of Davids captains (2Sa. 23:27). It was to Anathoth that Solomon banished Abiathar the priest, after the death of David (1Ki. 2:26). Robinson identified it with Anta, a small village about four miles N.N.E. of Jerusalem. Almon] In 1Ch. 6:60, called Alemeth. Thought by Robinson to be Almit, near Anathoth, on the north-east.
Jos. 21:22. Kibzaim] Called also Jokmeam in 1Ch. 6:68. The very similar meaning of the words Kibzaim and Jokmeam favours the idea that they were two names for the same place.
Jos. 21:24. Aijalon] The Ajalon of chap. Jos. 10:12; Jos. 19:42.
Jos. 21:25. Tanach] Called Taanach in chap. Jos. 12:21, Jos. 17:11. Gath-Rimmon] Instead of Gath-Rimmon, we find, in 1Ch. 6:70, Bileam, another form of Jibleam (chap. Jos. 17:11). This reading in the Chronicles is evidently the correct one, and Gath-Rimmon has most probably crept into the text here, through an oversight, out of the preceding verse, although, from the frequent occurrence of this name in connection with different places, it is certainly possible that Gath-Rimmon in the half-tribe of Manasseh may have been another name for the city of Jibleam. [Keil.]
Jos. 21:27. Beesh-terah] Meaning, the house or temple of Astarte, and hence, in 1Ch. 6:70, called by the name of Ashtaroth. The name Ashtaroth is also given in chap. Jos. 12:4, where the city is spoken of as containing a residence of Og, King of Bashan. Cf. also chap. Jos. 13:12, Gen. 14:5.
Jos. 21:28. Dabareh] In chap. Jos. 19:12, Daberath.
Jos. 21:29. Jarmuth] In chap. Jos. 19:21, Remeth.
Jos. 21:30. Abdon] Probably the place called Hebron in chap. Jos. 19:28. The name Abdon is found in twenty MSS., Jos. 19:28, instead of the common reading Hebron. [Gesen.]
Jos. 21:32. Kartan] According to Keil, the word is a contraction of Kirjathaim, named in 1Ch. 6:76. Kartan is not mentioned among the cities of Naphtali, chap. Jos. 19:35-38.
Jos. 21:34-35. Kartah Dimnah] Neither is known, and the names do not occur elsewhere, unless the former be the Kattath of chap. Jos. 19:15.
Jos. 21:36-37. And out of the tribe of Reuben, etc.] These two verses, at one time omitted on the authority of the Masora, are now almost universally received as genuine, and as necessary to the harmony of the text with itself.
Jos. 21:42. With their suburbs round about them] An allusion to the pasture land set apart for the maintenance of the cattle of the Levites (Num. 35:2-5). At the close of this verse, a clause of fourteen lines is added by the LXX, taken partly from chap. Jos. 19:49-50, and partly, says Keil, from a Jewish legend.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PARAGRAPHS
Jos. 21:1-8.THE INHERITANCE OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES.
This plea of the Levitical families was necessarily deferred till the tribes had received their respective lots. The estate of each tribe had to be determined before these assignments from each estate could be made. No tribe could give cities to the Levites till they knew what cities they had to give. The plea of the Levites was founded on the command of the Lord. There are no people in the whole community who may not find some good words of God to turn into prayer. God has words for all people. He overlooks none. None is so poor that he may not find some promise to render into a petition.
I. The Lords confirmation of words that were past. Nearly two centuries and a half before this, a dying patriarch had prophesied of Simeon and Levi: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Gen. 49:7). To some extent this prediction had already been fulfilled in respect to Simeon; they were divided in the territory of Judah. Here, Levi is scattered throughout the entire land. God fulfils His words
(1) imperceptibly,
(2) patiently,
(3) surely. Possibly ere ever the people had thought on what was being done, the ancient utterance of Jacob had become an accomplished fact.
II. The Lords anticipation of wants that were to come. The children of Aaron the priest 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. Jerusalem, or Jebus, was at this time in the hands of the Canaanites. The ark was at Shiloh. But Jerusalem was to be the place of the future temple. It was at Jerusalem that the great religious centre of the land was presently to be founded, though as yet no sign of this had been given. How important that the priests should be near Jerusalem! God anticipates this, and so orders the lots that the priests cities are immediately around the future city of the Lord; while the Kohathites, whose duties were next in importance to those of the priests, are placed next to the priests geographically. Who can refuse to see the discerning eye and provident hand of Jehovah in this significant arrangement?
III. The Lords cultivation of the spiritual through the secular. Here are geography and religion hand in hand. The spiritual teachers of the people are scattered among the people. The chief religious authorities are grouped around the future centre of religion. Nothing is too lowly for the care of God. Everything that tends to the welfare of a human soul takes on in that measure so much of the souls own importance. Men label things secular, and then treat them as spiritually insignificant; God looks at the very placing of a mans dwelling in the light of so much help or hindrance to the finding of his eternal home.
Jos. 21:13-19.THE NUMBER OF CITIES ASSIGNED TO THE PRIESTS.
Bertholdt and Maurer suppose this chapter to be a distinct document, drawn up at a later period. Their arguments are founded partly upon a fancied, but not actual, discrepancy between Jos. 21:11 seq. and chap. Jos. 14:13 seq. (compared with chap. Jos. 15:18), partly upon the assumption that Caleb did not receive his inheritance till after the death of Joshua, and in part on the impossibility of the increase in the posterity of Aarons two sons having been sufficiently large for them to fill two cities during the lifetime of Joshua, to say nothing of thirteen (1Ch. 24:2). But this supposes the distributors to have been so shortsighted, that they only selected dwelling-places to meet the wants of the priestly families at that time, and made no allowance for subsequent increase. Moreover, the size of the cities is exaggerated, and the estimate of the number of the priests much too low. It is true that the number is not stated anywhere; but if we take into account that, on the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, Aaron was eighty-three years old, for he died in the fortieth year of the journey, and his age was then 123 (Num. 33:38), we shall see that the fifth generation of his descendants might have been living at the time when the land was distributed, which was seven years after his death. Moreover, his two sons had together twenty-four male children, who were the ancestors of the twenty-four priestly ranks organised by David (1 Chronicles 24.), and if we suppose each of these to have been the father of only six sons, in the third generation the sons of Aaron would have amounted to 144. On the same scale there would be 864 male descendants in the fourth generation, and in the fifth 5184. And even if the fifth generation still consisted of infants, there might easily be 975 families in existence, and thus in every city there could well be seventy-five families of priestly rank, or about 750 inhabitants, since the majority of the third, and even a small portion of the second, generation would be still alive, as well as the fourth and their children; for Eleazar, the head of the first, was not yet dead. And besides this, very few of the cities of Canaan can have been at that time of any magnitude, as we may infer from the fact that there were so many of them; and therefore, as the Levites were not the only inhabitants of their cities, but were associated with such of the other tribes as owned the land in the neighbourhood (cf. Jos. 21:12), the number of cities assigned to the priests does not appear too great; much less will it appear so, when we remember that from the very first, several of these cities remained in the possession of the Canaanites, and were only wrested from them after a severe struggle, at a subsequent period. From all this, then, it is evident that there is no ground for disputing the antiquity of this account; which, in fact, cannot belong to a later period; for if it did, Nob would not be omitted, as that was a Levitical city in the reign of Saul (1Sa. 22:19).[Keil.]
Jos. 21:43-45.THE GOOD THINGS WHICH THE LORD HATH SPOKEN.
I. The good things of the Lord spoken unto the fathers. The completed works of God are not aimless works, finished as best they can be. Every body that the Lord makes is a clothed skeleton. The features are wonderful, and the visible form beautiful; but the hidden plan and structure of the body, with all its tendons and muscles, and nerves and arteries, is more wonderful and beautiful still. The words which had been spoken to the fathers were Gods outlined plan of the body which He intended to create.
1. The words of the Lord were words of long standing. They had been spoken long before (Gen. 12:7). Gods way is one of patience. Gods words to men, He works out through men. God works out His words by natural processes. Such processes are much slower than many would fain believe. It is only children who would look for seed-time and harvest in the same week, and Jehovah would train, not children, but men.
2. The words of the Lord were never forgotten. The years were very many, but Divine regard to the things which had been said was very constant (cf Gen. 15:18; Gen. 26:4; Exo. 23:31, etc.). Either by direct or indirect words, God was continually reminding His people throughout these intervening centuries that His good words were ever in His remembrance. Divine patience has nothing of heedlessness.
3. The words of the Lord were very comprehensive, and yet full of detail. There were absolute words, promising the land, as a whole, in strong and unhesitating terms. There were also words which indicated the very position that the tribes were to occupy, and which described the character of their inheritance. The word of the Lord is very bold. God shews men things to come with as much exactness as men can shew things that have been. Gods prophecies are among the worlds most truthful histories.
II. The good things of the Lord fulfilled unto the children.
1. The fulfilment was delayed through sin. The forty years in the wilderness. Even these may be only a part of the delay which God saw to be necessary on account of human weakness and wickedness.
2. The fulfilment was accomplished notwithstanding sin. God absolutely performed His good words. There stood not a man of all their enemies before them. None of the Canaanites dared to meet the Israelites in arms. God overcomes even our iniquities.
3. Sin made the fulfilment less perfect than it might have been. Many of the cities were still held by the Canaanites. This was because of the fear and unbelief and slothfulness of the Israelites (cf. on chap. Jos. 16:10; Jos. 17:12-13; Jos. 18:3). For all this, no good word of God had failed. The promise was that the Canaanites should be driven out gradually (Exo. 23:30), and that if the Israelites did not persist in driving them out, till all were gone, those that remained should be as pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides (Num. 33:55). These conditions had not been forgotten (chap. Jos. 23:11-14). Thus, this is no heedless exaggeration, as Maurer recklessly asserted. On Gods part, every good thing had been made to come to pass.
III. The good things of the Lord fulfilled to some men, and thus becoming the heritage of all men. The moral effect of these predictions, and their scrupulous fulfilment, no one can calculate. Sceptical critics have spent their small animosities on the records in vain. The influence on contemporary nations must have been great. The influence on the generations of men who followed is past finding out. It is to-day as marvellous as ever. An old couplet ascribed to James
1. tells us
Crowns have their compass, length of days their date,
Triumphs their tomb, felicities their fate.
So all the outward circumstances of this ancient heritage have changed. The pageantry of the old Judan royalty was limited; the days of the national glory have spent themselves, long since; every victory won on these ancient battlefields has found its grave; and the joy and glory of this ancient people have alike passed away. On all that is outward, the Ichabod, expressive of the national decadence, has long been written. But the good things of the Lord, thus fulfilled to this departed people, are as good as ever. The real inheritance of Gods fulfilled word came not so much to a few Israelites as to men; it was not nearly so much a thing of acres and cities and houses, as of reverence and faith and prayer and love, through many generations. This part of the inheritance, also, was one of the good things of which the Lord had spoken when He said repeatedly, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
Jos. 21:44.GODS GREAT GIFT OF REST.
I. Rest as the necessity of men.
II. Rest as the gift of the Lord.
III. Rest as becoming complete only through faith and labour.
Jos. 21:45.THE UNFAILING WORDS OF THE LORD.
I. The unfailing words of the Lord in contrast with the failing words of men. Mans words fail
(1) because of thoughtlessness in utterance,
(2) by reason of fickleness of regard,
(3) and through feebleness in execution. The Lords words are ever glorious, like the unfading stars of the firmament: For that He is strong in power, not one faileth. Mans words are in many ways, and for various reasons, a fruitful source of shame.
II. The words of the Lord on good things in contrast with the Lords words on evil things. Divine words not only stand in contrast with words that are human, but with themselves. God never allows words to fail which tell of blessing and prosperity; it is only of things which bring to men suffering and loss that we ever find it written, God repented of the evil that He said He would do unto them, and He did it not (Jon. 3:10; cf. also Deu. 32:36; Jer. 18:10; Amo. 7:3; Amo. 7:6). Words like these are never written of Gods good things. He who speaks to men from above is slow to anger and swift to bless.
Jos. 21:45.RETROSPECT.
I. The retrospect of the godly.
1. Provoking admiration of God. (a) Great purposes. (b) Glorious promises. (c) Patient working.
2. Awakening praise to God. Admiration should not be silent. It should resolve itself into speech. The rapt admiration of the silent beholder is good for the individual; the praise when spoken, or written, helps men.
II. The retrospect of the ungodly. While the Israelites were looking back on the way in which Jehovah had led them, the Canaanites must have been very similarly engaged. The God of the Israelites, who had warned them through Ham and Canaan, their fathers, who had punished them at Sodom, and given them occasion for repentance in many solemn rumours of their coming overthrow, had spoken to these idolaters also. And here, too, not one thing had failed. A few short years before, and the Canaanites were in untroubled possession of the land. Now a few survivors looked out with awe from some of the fortified cities upon the graves of their comrades and the ruins of their nation. How did the retrospect affect these? It seems to have brought no penitence, and thus could work no praise. The surviving idolaters presently tempted the Israelites to idolatry. The retrospect of the godless man can only lead to true happiness and praise as it begins in sincere repentance.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Preparation for the Assignment of the Levitical Cities Jos. 21:1-8
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.
1.
Who were the heads of the fathers of the Levites? Jos. 21:1
Every tribe was led by the respected elders who had been appointed and recognized. The leaders of the twelve tribes were listed in the first chapter of Numbers. Since the high priests were from the tribe of Levi, Eleazar would be recognized as the primary leader of these Israelites. Under him were the heads of the fathers houses (Num. 1:4). At the time of the first numbering, the names of the heads of the three families of Levites were listed (Num. 1:18-20). Their successors must have approached Eleazar and Joshua when they asked for the cities to be assigned to them.
2.
When did God command Moses to give cities to the Levites? Jos. 21:2
God spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, and commanded him to give an inheritance to the Levites. He stipulated that this inheritance was to be cities in which they might dwell. They were also to receive suburbs for the cities (Num. 35:1-2). Such provision made it possible for them to have some cattle and other beasts. They could also erect their houses in which to live and perhaps have some small vegetable crops.
3.
Where were the cities given to the children of Aaron? Jos. 21:4
A total of thirteen cities were given to the children of Aaron. These lay within the borders of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon. Thus, all the cities given to the children of Aaron were on the west side of the Jordan and in the south part of the territory.
4.
Where were the cities given to the family of Kohath? Jos. 21:5
Since all the children of Aaron were also descendants of Kohath, only ten additional cities were given to the remaining families of the Kohathites. These cities were located within the borders of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who lived west of the Jordan. All of these cities were also west of the Jordan, but they were in the central part of the western territory.
5.
Where were the cities given to the families of the Gershonites? Jos. 21:6
Thirteen cities were given to the families of the Gershonites. These were located within the borders of the tribes of Asher, Naphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh which lived east of the Jordan. These cities were, thus, located on both sides of the Jordan River, but were all in the extreme northern part of the Promised Land.
6.
Where were the cities given to the families of Merari? Jos. 21:7
Twelve cities were given to the descendants of Merari. These were located within the borders of the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. The cities assigned to these Levites were more scattered than any of the others. Some of them were east of the Jordan and some were west of the Jordan. Some of them were in the northin the tribe of Zebulun, and some were in the far southin the tribe of Reuben. Others were in the central part of the eastern territorywithin the borders of the tribe of Gad.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
DESIGNATION OF THE LEVITICAL CITIES, Jos 21:1-42.
1. Heads of the fathers The most venerable and influential of the three Levitical families. These applied to the same commissioners for the cities promised by Moses, (Num 35:1-5.) It is not enough that God makes special promises and provisions. The very persons to whom these promises are made will fail to receive them unless they exert themselves to secure them. Prayer is the key to God’s treasury.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites, to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel.’
The land having been allocated, and cities of refuge appointed, the Levites now came to remind the leaders, who had accomplished the work, of God’s promise to them that cities with lands for their use would be allocated to them throughout Israel. Note the hierarchy, ‘the heads of the fathers’. The princes of the sub-tribes (the thousands?) were over the fathers of the extended families (the hundreds?), who were over the fathers of the closer families (the tens?). These princes then approached the priest of the central sanctuary, and Joshua their great leader, and the princes of the other tribes.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jos 21:3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs.
Jos 21:3
Jos 21:43-45 Summary of Conquest and Possession of the Promised Land Jos 21:43-45 summarizes the conquest and settlement of the Promised Land. This passage of Scripture mentions twice that God fulfilled His promises that he swore unto the fathers of this generation of Israelites, which promises go back to the time of Abraham. God is a God who works from generation to generation in order to fulfil His promises and accomplish His plan of redemption for mankind.
Jos 21:45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
Jos 21:45
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Allotment in General
v. 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; v. 2. and they spake unto them at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, v. 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, v. 4. And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites, v. 5. And the rest of the children of Kohath, v. 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, v. 7. The children of Merari by their families had out of the tribe of Reuben and out of the tribe of Gad, v. 8. And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE INHERITANCE OF THE LEVITES.
Jos 21:1
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites. We are not to suppose, with Calvin, that the Levites had been overlooked. Such a supposition is little in keeping with the devout spirit of him who now directed the affairs of the Israelites, who had been minister to Moses the Levite, and had but lately been concerned with Eleazar, the high priest, in making a public recognition of that God to whose service the Levites had been specially set apart. The delay in appointing to the Levites their cities arose from the nature of the arrangement which had to be made for the Levitical cities. The prophecy which threatened (Gen 49:7) to “scatter them in Israel” was to be fulfilled for the benefit of the whole people. Instead of a portion for himself, Levi, as we have been repeatedly informed (Jos 13:33; Jos 14:3; Jos 18:7), was to have “the Lord God of Israel for his inheritance.” Since, therefore, their cities were to be assigned them within the limits of the other tribes, it was impossible to apportion them until the other tribes had been provided for. Unto Eleazar the priest. The close connection between the military and the sacerdotal power is kept up throughout the book. Warned by his one act of neglect in the case of the Gibeonites, Joshua never again appears to have neglected to have recourse to the high priest, that he might ask counsel of God for him, as had been prescribed in Num 27:21. Eleazar is placed first here, because, as the acknowledged head of the tribe, he was the proper person to prefer its request to the leader. But the whole history shows how entirely Joshua and Eleazar acted in concert. And unto Joshua the son of Nun. In a matter of ecclesiastical organisation the ecclesiastical took precedence of the civil leader. And unto the heads. The position of Joshua was that of a chief magistrate ruling by constitutional methods. The representatives of the tribes were invariably consulted in all matters of moment. Such appear to have been the original constitution of all early communities, whether Aryan or Semitic. We find it in existence among Homer’s heroes. It meets us in the early history of Germanic peoples. It took a form precisely analogous to the Jewish in the old English Witan where the chief men in Church and State took counsel with the monarch on all matters affecting the commonweal of the realm; and the remains of this aristocratic system still meet us in our own House of Lords.
Jos 21:2
At Shiloh. Another instance of exact accuracy. Shiloh was now the place of assembly in Israel (see Jos 18:1). The Lord commanded. The command is given in Num 35:1-34. We have here, therefore, another quotation from the books of Moses. If we refer to it we find how exactly the precepts were carried out. First, the six cities of refuge were to be appointed, and then forty-two more were to be added to them. Calvin, not noticing this, has complained that this narrative is not in its proper place, and that it should have been inserted before the details in Num 20:1-29. The very reverse is the fact. These cities of refuge are included, in what follows, among the number of forty-eight cities in all, assigned to the Levites. Suburbs. See Jos 14:4. And so throughout the chapter.
Jos 21:3
Out of their inheritance. Out of that of Israel (see note on Jos 21:1). These cities. The number was forty-eight, i.e; four times twelve. Bahr (‘Symbolik des Alten Testaments,’ 1:221) remarks on the symbolical meaning of this number. He compares it, first, to the twelve tribes marching in four detachments, the ark of God and its guard in the centre (see Num 2:1-34). Four, he says, is the number of the world, and three the sign of God, and twelve of the combination of the two. Thus we are reminded of the heavenly city which “lieth four-square,” which has “twelve foundations of precious stones,” “twelve gates of pearls, and at the gates twelve angels,” and the names of “the twelve tribes of Israel” written thereupon, and wherein was “the tree of life,” with its “twelve manner of fruits,” which were “yielded every month” (Rev 21:12, Rev 21:14, Rev 21:16, Rev 21:19, Rev 21:21; Rev 22:2).
Jos 21:4
And the lot came out. As in the distribution of the land among the tribes, so in the division of the cities among the tribes of Levi, the whole matter was referred to the judgment of God. Thus solemnly placed in His hands, the division would not afterwards become the occasion of jealousy or dispute. The division was first made between the descendants of the three sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (see Exo 6:16-25), and then, as regards the Kohathites, between the priests, the descendants of Aaron, and the rest of the Levites. We have remarked above (Jos 19:50) on the disinterestedness of Joshua. We have now to remark on the same characteristic as displayed by Moses. There was no attempt on the part of Moses to “found a family,” the object of ambition with most men, whether kings or private persons possessed of wealth. No special privileges belonged to his descendants. They merged in the undistinguished herd of the Levites generally. In this Moses contrasts favourably with most public men in our own day; he stands out prominently before nearly all the great leaders and conquerors before or even after the Christian era. The same may be said of Joshua, his successor. Cincinnatus may be in some measure compared with them, but as a dictator simply in time of danger, his power was by no means so absolute, nor were his temptations so great as those of the two successive leaders of the Israelites. Thirteen cities. It has been contended by Maurer and others that this number of cities was largely in excess of what could possibly be required for the descendants of Aaron in so short a time. But we have to consider
(1) that the cities were probably not, at least at first, inhabited exclusively by the priests;
(2) that the Israelites multiplied rapidly, and that the number of descendants in the fourth generation would probably be nearly a thousand, and in the fifth, above five thousand;
(3) that all the cities were not, as yet, actually taken from the Canaanites at all, and so therefore were in all probability only intended as an eventual possession of the priests, and
(4) that the cities themselves were probably not of any very great size. It may be worthy of remark, as a proof of the accuracy of the writers of the Old Testament, and as a means of approximately ascertaining the date of the Book of Joshua, that Nob, mentioned as a priestly city in 1Sa 22:11, 1Sa 22:19, is not found in the list given here. For the number of priests being sure to increase, it is not surprising that in the course of time additional cities should be assigned to them. And since Nob is not mentioned here, we have good grounds for concluding that the Book of Joshua was not a compilation put together after the reign of Saul Calvin does not fail to remark on the prescience of God here demonstrated. He had fixed upon Jerusalem as the place where he would “put His Name.” He therefore directed that the lot of the priests should fall within the limits of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, on whose borders Jerusalem stood. Simeon is also mentioned, but the territory of that tribe (Jos 19:1, Jos 19:9), was contained within the borders of Judah. For theirs was the first lot. Not because Kohath was the firstborn, for this Gershon appears to have been, but because to Aaron and his sons had the priesthood been reserved.
Jos 21:11
In the hill country of Judah. The word in the original is , mountain, the title which is consistently applied to the highlands of Palestine in the Bible, while our version translates indiscriminately by “mountain” and “hill.”
Jos 21:12
The fields. The original is in the singular. We are not necessarily, therefore, to suppose that the land was mapped out into divisions analogous to our fields. Our word “land” would more accurately represent the meaning of the original, which refers to the arable and pasture land in the neighbourhood of the city, with the agricultural villages or homesteads dotted about it. Keil contends that the Levites only received as many houses within the city as they needed, and that the rest belonged to Caleb. Bahr, moreover (‘Symbolik,’ 2:49), supposed that the Levites dwelt with the other inhabitants of the city, and that the pasture land within the distance of 2,000 paces from the city was reserved for them, the rest of the land belonging to the inhabitants of the tribe (see note on Gezer, Jos 10:33). This seems the most probable explanation. The land in general was owned by the descendants of Caleb. But the Levites had certain pastures reserved for them, whither they drove their cattle (see note on suburbs, Jos 14:4). The special information about Hebron here again is worthy of notice. It is copied by the author of 1 Chronicles in 1Ch 6:1-81.
Jos 21:13
Hebron with her suburbs to be a city of refuge for the slayer. Rather, the city of refuge for the slayer, Hebron and her cattle drives (see note above on Jos 21:2). The translation in our version obscures the meaning, which is clearly that the cities of refuge were first fixed on, and then assigned to the Levites. Most of the cities in the following list have been noticed already.
Jos 21:16
Ain with her suburbs. We have “Ashan” in 1Ch 6:59. If the view taken above of Ain (see note on Jos 15:32, and Jos 19:7) be correct, Ashen is the true reading here.
Jos 21:18
Anathoth. The birthplace of Jeremiah, where we find that Anathoth was still a priestly city (Jos 1:1). No doubt it was for this reason that it was chosen (1Ki 2:26) as the place of Abiathar’s banishment. Here again we see to how close an examination the writers of the Old Testament may be submitted without in the least degree shaking their testimony. Observe, too, the geographical accuracy of Isaiah’s mention of Geba and Anathoth in his description of an Assyrian invasion through the passes at Ai or Aiath and Michmash (Isa 10:29, Isa 10:30).
Jos 21:21
To be a refuge for the slayer (see above Jos 21:13). This order is observed in every case but one, which is explained in the note on Jos 21:36.
Jos 21:25
Tanach. The same as the Taanach before mentioned, Jos 12:21. In 1Ch 6:70 (56 Hebrews text) we have Eth-aner, an obvious blunder, as the Hebrew shows, Resh having been read for Hheth, and Aleph having been inserted to form the Eth of the accusative ease. This reading existed, however, as far back as the LXX. version. Gath-rimmon. There is a blunder also here, where Gath-rimmon has crept in by the mistake of a copyist from the last verse. The true reading is preserved in 1Ch 6:70, where we find Ibleam (see Jos 17:11), or as it is there written Bileam; no doubt by mistake; the Hebrew letters (omitting the Jod, which has dropped out), being those that compose the familiar name of Balaam the prophet. The LXX. reads Jebath here.
Jos 21:27
To be a city of refuge (see above, Jos 21:13). Be-eshterah. Thus printed by the Masorites, and thus translated by the LXX; but no doubt the same as Og’s city Ashtaroth (see Jos 12:4, and 1Ch 6:71).
Jos 21:30
Abdon (see note on Jos 19:28).
Jos 21:32
Galilee (see above, Jos 20:7).
Jos 21:36
And out of the tribe of Reuben. This verse and the succeeding have the Masoretic note appended that they are not found in the Masora or true tradition. Kimchi therefore rejects them. But they are found in the LXX. and the rest of the ancient versions, and they are necessary to make up the number of forty-eight cities. Dr. Kennicott, as well as Michaelis, Rosenmuller, and Maurer defended their genuineness. So does Knobel, who complains that Rabbi Jacob Ben Chajim, in his Rabbinical Bible of 1525, has very improperly omitted these towns on the authority of the Masora, and that many editors have foolishly imitated him They have no doubt been omitted by the mistake of a copyist, who passed on from the (four) of Jos 21:35 to that of Jos 21:37, omitting all that lay between. The LXX. adds here “the city of refuge for the slayer,” words which may have possibly formed part of the original text, as they do in every other instance. Jahazah. It is worthy of remark that this city, with Heshbon and Jazer and Mephaath, fell into the hands of the Moabites in later times, a sad indication of religious declension (see Isa 15:1-9; Isa 16:1-14.; Jer 48:21, Jer 48:34).
Jos 21:38
To be a city of refuge (see above, Jos 21:13). Mahanaim (see Jos 13:26). Perhaps the unquestionable entente cordiale between David and the sacerdotal party may have determined him to fix on this as his refuge when fleeing from Absalom, in addition to its situation beyond Jordan, and near the fords (2Sa 17:22, 2Sa 17:24).
Jos 21:42
These cities. Rather, perhaps, these cities were, (i.e; “have been enumerated,” or “were given”), city by city, and their cattle drives surrounding them, thus was it with all these cities.
Jos 21:43
And the Lord gave. The LXX. adds before this passage: “And Joshua completed the division of the land in its boundaries, and the children gave a portion to Joshua, by the commandment of the Lord. They gave to him the city for which he asked, Thamnath Sarach gave they him in Mount Ephraim, and Joshua built the city, and dwelt in it. And Joshua took the stone knives, with which he had circumcised the children of Israel, which were in the way in the wilderness, and he placed them in Tamnath Sarach.” The repetition is very much in the manner of the sacred historian, and it is possible that we have here an authentic passage, which some copyist has omitted in the Hebrew text. All the land. As has been before remarked, the Hebrew must not be pressed to mean literally “all.” Yet, in a sense, the word is true here. The land had been put in their power. They had only to exert themselves to complete its conquest. This they failed to do, and not only so, but violated the conditions under which the land was granted them. Thus they soon fell under the dominion of those who had been their own vassals. Ritter thinks that the Asherites and Danites submitted to the inhabitants of the land in consequence of being allowed equal citizen rights with them. He draws this inference from Jdg 5:17, supposing that these tribes addicted themselves to the commercial and maritime life for which the Phoenicians were so famous.
Jos 21:44
And the Lord gave them rest. LXX. . The student of Scripture will not fail to recall the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Jos 4:8) in which reference is made to this passage, and especially to the LXX. version of it. The word signifies rather rest from wandering than rest from toil, though in some passages (e.g. Exo 23:12; Deu 5:14) it has the latter signification (cf. Deu 12:10). Round about. Or, from round about, i.e; from the assaults of the surrounding nations. According to all that he sware (Exo 33:14). There stood not a man of all their enemies before them. This was true, as far as the present history is concerned. We read that the Ephraimites did not, or “could not,” drive out their enemies, and that the other tribes also failed to obtain complete possession of the land. But
(1) we are not told that this was in the time of Joshua, and
(2) it is intimated that this was their own fault.
How could it be otherwise? Had the same faith been theirs which caused the Jordan to dry up, and the towers of Jericho to fall down at their march, which discomfited one vast confederacy at Beth-horon, and annihilated another vast confederacy, even better supplied with munitions of war at Lake Merom, they could not have failed to root out the scanty remnant of their humiliated and disheartened foes. As has already been remarked (see Jos 11:23, note), it was from no neglect on Joshua’s part that this was not done at once, for it had been God’s own command that it should not be done, lest the country should become a desert (Deu 7:22). Calvin concludes a similar argument with the words, “nothing but their own cowardice prevented them from enjoying the blessings of God in all their fulness.”
Jos 21:45
Ought of any good thing. Literally, a word from all the good word. This Keil regards as the “sum of all the gracious promises that God had made.” But he should have added that , beside signifying, as it does, “word,” is also the word for “thing” in Hebrew (see, for instance, Gen 15:1; Gen 20:10), and innumerable other passages, as well as the use of for “nothing.” The translation “thing” makes the best sense, and is more agreeable to the Hebrew idiom. All came to pass. The Hebrew is singular, the whole came, the word translated “came to pass “in our version being a different one from that usually so translated.
HOMILETICS
Jos 21:1-45
The ecclesiastical settlement of Canaan.
Though the ecclesiastical institutions of the Christian Church differ, in some respects materially, from these of the Jewish, yet inasmuch as the law and the gospel came from the same All-wise Hand, we may naturally expect that the main principles of each will be the same. Perhaps we have insisted too much of late on the fact that the law was “done away in Christ,” and too little on the qualifying truth that Christ came “not to destroy, but to fulfil it.” It may be well, therefore, to consider briefly what the duties of the priests were under the old covenant. From this we may be able to infer what their duties should be under the new. The New Testament Scriptures contain some information on the point, but not so much as to render it unnecessary to seek some enlightenment from the Old. The reaction from an obedience to powers unduly chimed and unjustly used, has rendered it an the more necessary that we should recur to first principles in the matter. The hatred of what is called “sacerdotalism” has resulted on the part of the laity in general to something like an undue impatience of the just influence of ministers of religion, and this can only lead to disorder in the Christian body. We may observe, then,
(1) that the performance of the public duties of religion belonged exclusively to them, and the cases of Korah, Saul, Uzzah, and King Uzziah show how rigidly this law was to be observed. For the sacrifies of the old law we must substitute the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise in the congregation, the administration of the sacraments, the ordering of the, services of the sanctuary. They had
(2) to “bear the iniquity of the sanctuary (Num 18:1) which would seem to mean, in the ease of the Christian clergy, that they are bound to take upon themselves the office of public and private intercession for God’s people, just as Daniel did during the Babylonish captivity (Dan 9:8-20). Nor is this to be confined to their own particular flocks. Who can tell the blessing to Christian society if all the ministers of religion kept up a ceaseless intercession for the sins of Christian people in general, and especially for those of their own country and Church? Again,
(3) the decision of difficult causes is referred to them as well as the judges. To claim such a right would be regarded in these days as an unbounded instance of priestly arrogance. Yet it has been claimed, not only by ecclesiastics of the Roman Church, but by Calvin and his followers, by John Knox, and by the Puritans in the reign of Elizabeth. No doubt the claims of an these parties were pushed to inordinate lengths. But, on the other hand, it does not seem extravagant to believe that in a healthy state of society, the influence of those whose studies are chiefly concerned with the word of God, should be considerable in matters relating to the application of the principles of morality. Of course nothing like an absolute authority is claimed for them. All that Scripture gives them is a consultative voice, a coordinate with that of the magistrate or legislator. Such was actually the position given to the clergy in Anglo-Saxon times, and though, no doubt, the increased and increasing complexity of modern society renders special study more and more necessary for the interpretation of laws, the same rule does not hold good regarding their enactment. Lastly, the priests of the old covenant, though not formally charged with it by the law, yet (see Le Joh 10:11; Deu 17:9-12) became practically
(4) the interpreters of God’s revealed will. We learn this from the text, “The priests’ lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth” (Mal 2:7). This office, though not formally committed to the clergy under the gospel, any more than under the law, is yet at present vested in them exclusively by common consent. They are the authorised expounders of the truths of religion. Not that the people are bound to accept implicity whatever they say. For it is implied in the passage above cited and by many others, that the priests’ lips did not keep knowledge, and that men sought the law at his month in vain. It is the duty of the laity to test the truth of what is delivered to them by the word of God. But, except in very rare instances, that of Origen for example, the task of the public exposition of the oracles of God has been reserved for those who have been called to the office of the ministry. In these four respects the ecclesiastical arrangements of a Christian country should correspond, it may fairly be urged, with the ecclesiastical arrangements of the promised land. On the other hand, it must not he forgotten that the whole history of Israel, from Moses downwards, shows that the civil magistrate had a large influence in ecclesiastical affairs. Not to go beyond the limits of the present book, we have instances of the exertion of such an influence in Jos 3:5, Jos 3:6; Jos 4:10, Jos 4:17; Jos 5:2, Jos 5:8; Jos 6:6; Jos 21:1. Some additional considerations are added.
I. THE LEVITES RECEIVED THEIR INHERITANCE LAST OF ALL. This self abnegation was fitting among those who were specially appointed to the service of God. So, in like manner, should the ministers of Jesus Christ, instead of grasping eagerly at power or pelf, be desirous of being “last of all and servant of all,” in imitation of Him who was among His own disciples as one that serveth. It may be added in a spirit, not of boasting, but of thankfulness, that never was there a time, since the hour of the first fervour of the gospel in the days of the Apostles, when this spirit was more abundantly displayed than in our own age and countrywhen there were so many ministers of God content to serve God in the sanctuary, without the prospect of earthly countenance or reward. Let them not murmur if men take these things as a matter of course, but look forward to the “recompense of the reward.”
II. PROPER PROVISION WAS MADE FOR THE SERVICE OF GOD. The Levites were carefully dispersed throughout all the tribes of Israel, not, of course, for the service of the sanctuary, which was kept up at one place only, but obviously in order to diffuse among the tribes a knowledge of and attachment to the law of God. A similar provision has been made in all Christian countries. At first, bodies of men were gathered together in the chief cities of a country, from whence the rural districts were gradually evangelised. Thence, by an extension of the principle of Levitical dispersion, came our present institution of a resident minister or ministers in every village. To this institution, more than to any other, do we owe the diffusion of Christian principles throughout the whole land. It would be the sorest of all calamities were any untoward event to overthrow it.
III. PROPER PROVISION WAS MADE FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THE CLERGY AND MINISTERS OF RELIGION. Here we may do well to quote Matthew Henry, who says, referring to the words, “The Lord commanded by the hands of Moses,” and observing that the Levites based their claim, not on their own merits or services, but on the command of God: “Note, the maintenance of ministers is not an arbitrary thing, left purely to the goodwill of the people, who may let them starve if they please, but a perpetual ordinance that ‘those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel’ (1Co 9:14), and should live comfortably.” Many other passages in the New Testament enforce this truth (e.g; 1Co 9:7, l 1; Gal 6:6). The clergy may feel a natural repugnance to enlarge upon that in which they themselves have a personal interest, and which their flocks might find in the word of God. But they should not be deterred by an over scrupulous feeling from doing their duly. They are bound to declare the whole counsel of God. And if, by an insufficient provision for God’s ministers, the cause of God is likely to suffer (and it is to be feared that such is now very often the case), if the energies which should be devoted entirely to God’s cause are dissipated in worldly anxieties, in endeavours to keep the wolf from the door, in efforts to eke out a too scanty income by other labours than those of the sanctuary, it is plainly their duty to speak out. Instead of “living of the gospel,” it is to be feared that there are many clergymen and their families starving of the gospel, though they have too much self respect to let the fact be known. And while the spectacle of ecclesiastics rolling in riches and living idly and luxuriously is a hateful one, on the other hand, our present haphazard regulations, which deprive a good many estimable clergymen of the wherewithal to purchase their daily bread, and keep a good many more in anxious suspense, whether it may not one day be so with themselves, are no less an offence in the eyes of God.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Jos 21:3
The cities of the Levites.
The Levites were scattered among the other tribes of Israel, and yet not individually but in clusters, in cities of their own. This arrangement must have had some object:
I. THE LEVITES WERE SET APART FOR THE SERVICE OF GOD. They were freed from the claims and cares which fell on the other Israelites. They were maintained by the offerings of the people. Those who minister in spiritual things have temporal wants which the people who are benefited by their services should care for. They are not the less men because they are servants of God, and their home comforts should be secured that they may be free for spiritual work.
II. THE LEVITES WERE ABLE TO MINISTER TO THE PEOPLE BY LIVING AMONGST THEM. When it was not their turn to be serving at the temple, the Levites appear to have been engaged in educational work and religious ministrations among the people of their neighbourhood. Church services are useless unless the private lives of men are improved. We must carry the gospel to those who will not come to hear it in the regular place of worship. It is the duty of Christians not to live apart from the world for their own sanctification, but to live in the world for the world’s redemptionto be the leaven leavening the whole mass, the light of the world shining into the dark places. Thus the world will be Christianised
(1) by the gospel reaching those who are out of the way of ordinary religious influences;
(2) by example;
(3) by direct personal persuasion.
III. THE LEVITES WERE ABLE TO CULTIVATE THEIR HUMAN SYMPATHIES BY LIVING AMONG THE PEOPLE. The religion of complete separation from the world is unnatural. It destroys some of the finest qualities of human life. Godliness cannot exist without humanity. The man of God is most truly human. Sympathy for human affairs, active pity for the distress of the world, and brotherly kindness are essential to the Christian life. Therefore the best school for the saint is not the hermit’s cell, but the marketplace. Complete separation from the world for religious ends developes
(1) morbid subjectivity,
(2) spiritual selfishness,
(3) pride,
(4) idleness.
IV. THE LEVITES WERE ABLE TO CULTIVATE THEIR SPIRITUALITY BY MUTUAL INTERCOURSE. They lived in cities together; though in the midst of the tribes of Israel. Christians should unite in Church fellowship. Solitary mission work is difficult and painful. Christian society secures
(1) mutual sympathy,
(2) wholesome emulation.
The Church should be a home for the Christian. It is bad to be always in worldly society.W.F.A.
Jos 21:43-45
God’s faithfulness.
I. WE MAY ASSURE OURSELVES OF GOD‘S FAITHFULNESS BY A CONSIDERATION OF THE GROUNDS ON WHICH IT RESTS.
(1) The unchangeableness of God. This is seen
(a) in naturein changeless laws, as of light and gravitation, and in geological uniformity;
(b) in revelation, the development of which is like that of a tree retaining unity of life and growing according to fixed principles.
(2) The omniscience of God. Men cannot foresee
(a) the novel circumstances under which they will be required to redeem their word, and
(b) the breadth of the issues to which their promises may lead them.
When God promises He knows
(a) all future circumstances to which His word may apply, and
(b) all that is involved in the pledge He gives.
(3) The omnipotence of God. We may promise help, and fail in the hour of need from inability to render it. This is seen in business engagements, national treaties, pledges of friendship, etc. God has all the sources of the universe at His command.
II. WE MAY ILLUSTRATE GOD‘S FAITHFULNESS BY A REVIEW OF THE INSTANCES IN WHICH IT HAS BEEN PROVED TO US.
(1) In history; e.g; the return of the seasons and the production of the fruits of the earth, according to the promise to Noah (Gen 8:22); the possession of Canaan promised from the time of Abraham (Gen 12:7); the return from the captivity promised in the law (Deu 30:3); the advent of Christ (Isa 11:1), and the enjoyment of Christian blessings (Mat 11:28-30).
(2) In personal experience; e.g; deliverance from sin, comfort in sorrow, watches guidance in perplexity, strength for duty. Andrew Fuller says, “He that Providence will not lack a Providence to watch.”
III. WE MAY STRENGTHEN OUR BELIEF IN GOD‘S FAITHFULNESS BY AN EXAMINATION OF APPARENT EXCEPTIONS. These may often be explained by noting important circumstances.
(1) Time of fulflment. God does not always fulfil his promise immediately, or when we expect. He will do so in His own time, at the right time, in the fulness of time.
(2) Mode of fulfilment. The promise is not always fulfilled in the way we expect, because (a) we misinterpret God’s word, and (b) God is educating us by illusions ‘which cover greater truths than we can at first receive.
(3) Conditions of fulfilment. God’s promises are conditional on our faith and conduct. His covenant is sure so long as we keep our side of it. He is faithful to us if we are true to Him. We often fail to receive a promised blessing because we neglect to carry out the conditions God has attached to it.
IV. WE MAY APPLY THE PRINCIPLE OF GOD‘S FAITHFULNESS TO OUR OWN EXPERIENCE BY NOTING THE REGIONS OVER WHICH IT EXTENDS.
(1) It extends to all God’s promisesthe threats of chastisement as well as the assurances of mercy.
(2) It extends to all time. God’s promises are as fresh now as when he first uttered them.
(3) The fruits of it are enduring. The people “possessed the land and dwelt in it.”
(4) The realisation of it is perfect. “All came to pass.”W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE
Jos 21:3
The portion of the tribe of Levi.
There might seem at first something strange in the withholding from the tribe of Levi its share among the cities of Canaan, divided by lot among the other tribes. There were, however, as we shall see, substantial reasons why the tribe of Levi should not be treated like the other tribes in the apportionment of the land of Canaan. IT HAD ITS OWN PECULIAR WORK TO WHICH IT WAS TO BE ENTIRELY CONSECRATED. Set apart for the service of the altar, it was not to be distracted by other interests. The sacrifices of the Lord were its inheritance. On the other hand, as it must have means of subsistence, every tribe was to set apart from its own lot that which was needful for the sacrifices and service of God. These temporal conditions of the tribe of Levi in the land of Canaan give us a very fair idea of the priesthood of the old covenant, and we shall be able to derive from their consideration several principles applicable to the priesthood of the new covenant.
(1) The fact that the tribe of Levi was to have no portion of its own, shows that it is not the will of God that His service should be mixed up with temporal and material interests.
(2) It is made incumbent on the whole nation to provide for the maintenance of the Levites. This is a sacred duty which cannot be neglected without prejudice to the service of God. In fulfilling this duty, the people associate themselves with the priesthood. The Levites, whom they maintain, are their representatives. The eleven tribes have their delegate in the twelfth. This truth was impressed on the minds of the children of Israel by the offering by which they had to redeem the first born of their male children. Thus even under the old covenant, the great idea of the universal priesthood was implicitly recognised. Now all Israel is a nation of priests, for, as says St. Peter, in Christ “we are made kings and priests unto God” (1Pe 2:9). Still the Church has its ministers; but these are not a clerical class apart; they are but the representatives of the people; or rather, they do but devote themselves specially to that which is at the same time the duty of every Christian. In fulfilling this ministry, they are called, as was the tribe of Levi, to renounce all earthly ambition, and not to attempt in any way to make holy things the handle for securing their own material advantage. Freely they have received, freely they are to give; or they will come under the condemnation of Simon Magus. It is for the Church to maintain these her servants by voluntary gifts. This duty was urged by the apostles. Let him who is taught communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things” (Gal 6:6).
(3) The Church has become altogether a race of priests. As a Church she has no right to secular dominion. When the papacy pretended that temporal power was a condition of safety for the Catholic Church, it ignored the laws concerning the priesthood, both under the old covenant and the new. Whenever a Church seeks to reign after the manner of temporal sovereigns, she becomes guilty of the same rebellion, and forgets the great words of her Divine Founder: “My kingdom is not of this world” (Joh 18:1-40 :86).E. DE P.
HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER
Jos 21:41
The established Church of Israel.
These words project before us essentially the Church establishment of ancient Israel. It is quite true that the Old Testament priesthood in its functions differed in very many most essential points from the clergy of any modern Church. Their function was ritual rather than instruction. Their office came, not by fitness, choice, or ordination, but by birth and training. Throughout its history, from its earliest institution, when it was named “The Host,” down to the days of the Maccabees, the priestly was one of the most warlike of all the tribes. According to Dr. Stanley (‘Jewish Church,’ vol. 2; Lecture on Jewish Priesthood), the employment of the Levites in the temple service was that of the butcher rather than of the theologian. And though distributed in every tribe, there was no attempt to secure that distribution of the Levites in every city, which would have been essential if their work had partaken in any great degree of the educational character marking that of the Christian ministry. Still they were a religious order. Chiefly serving in the temple at Jerusalem, they had yet some instruction work to do in their provincial homes. To them belonged the duty of “preserving, transcribing, and interpreting the law.” They were the magistrates also who applied it (Deu 17:9-12; Deu 31:9, Deu 31:12, Deu 31:26). Though only a portion of their time occupied in attendance on the temple, and thus left free to pursue other labours, yet their service was recognised by a national provision. Roughly one-twelfth of the population, Levi had as its share the tithes of the produce realised by the other eleven tribes. It had no land, excepting a little suburban pasture land, given it; but forty-eight cities situate in all the tribes were given them for their dwelling. And while the priesthood never had the glory belonging to the line of prophets, it yet rendered splendid service to the land. It was a bond of unity between the various tribes. It linked them to God, it gave persistence to the national history, was the most enduring part of the most enduring people that the earth has seen; gave some of the finest psalmists, e.g; Heman and Asaph; produced grand prophets, e.g; Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and probably Isaiah, Joel, Micah, Habakkuk, and others; statesmen, like Ezra; patriots, like the Maccabees. While the Ten Tribes today are lost, in the frequency of the names Cohen and Levy you see the grand persistence of the tribe and the stamp of God’s approval of at least much of its service. In all this ordering of the Levitical institutions, and the provision made for the support of the tribe, we have a conspicuous example of a Church Establishment. As such consider it
I. As an illustration of RELIGIOUSNESS OF MAN. How strange is the universality of religious provision in the world! Egypt had its caste of priests; large provision was made in Greek and Roman societies for religious service; India has its caste of Brahmins; China has its Buddhist priests and monks; Israel has here its sacred tribe. Whatever else such a provision may import, it certainly involves a wonderful testimony to the force of the religious principle in man. Man cannot be utterly secular. The mystery around him, conscience within him, all aspirations of the heart, make him grope after God. However vague the creed and limited the law, every nation from the beginning has been religious. Israel’s Church establishment illustrates this fact.
II. This example suggests that IN ALL THINGS A NATION OUGHT TO ACT RELIGIOUSLY. The writer questions the expediency, on grounds hereafter to be noticed, of a Church establishment in England today. He, at the same time, would equally protest against the opposite extreme, which would deny to a State any right to recognise the truth of God, God’s claims, or the spiritual nature of man in its legislature. It is desirable that at once our national policy and law should in all points harmonise with those highest teachings of morals which we find in the word of God. If all do not agree in their views on these points, then, as in all other cases, the majority should have the power of carrying out their opinions, while the minority should have perfect freedom individually to hold and to propagate theirs. Recognising God and His claims, the policy and taws of a land would be more elevated in their tone. Is the question one of war, our English parliament should ask, What would God have us do? and should do it. On such questions as Sunday trading, the demoralising traffic in strong drink, religious education, or laws of marriage, the State could not without grave harm omit religious considerations from its grounds of action; on the contrary, it ought to place them in the forefront, and in all such questions adopt as its course that which, in its judgment, most accords with the will of God, and most furthers the spiritual as well as temporal benefit of man. If it believes God’s will to be revealed in the Bible, it should appeal to and boldly follow the teaching laid down there. No desire to keep sacred things from irreverent handling should be permitted to divorce legislation from religion. No undue regard for sensibilities of a minority should keep the majority from acting according to its highest views, so long as the freedom of the minority is unimpaired. Without religion government degenerates into a thing of police and sanitation; and is apt to become mean in its tone, reckless in its principles, and adverse to the nation’s real good.
III. EVERY PATRIOT SHOULD SEEK FOR HIS COUNTRY THE DIFFUSION OF TRUE RELIGION. In what way this is to be done is a grave question. But if we aim at the right end, probably not much harm results from endeavouring to reach it in various ways. In Moses’ time God ruled that the best way was a Church establishment. Expedient then, it seems to the writer inexpedient (not unlawful) now. He mentions a few out of many grounds.
(1) Christianity, as being a more spiritual system, is much less dependent on external support than Judaism was.
(2) There the order of precedence was Church before State; the whole nation being a theocracy, the law of Moses the statute book. While this was the order, the Church was free to carry out its mission in allegiance to God. In almost every modern union of Church and State the Church has had to purchase State support by a serious sacrifice of its spiritual self government and freedom of action.
(3) There is an absence of the harmonious, united feeling which alone makes a national Church a possibility.
(4) The wealth of the nation, and its religious interest, are so great that it can easily provide for the effective maintenance of all Christian activities, without needing anything beyond the freewill offerings of the people. On such grounds it is suggested that a Church establishment is today inexpedient. But, if a national provision of religious ordinance is inexpedient, a provision of religious ordinance throughout the land should be made in some other way; and it behoves every lover of his God and of his country to consecrate wealth and give labour to secure in every community a house of God, and to put within reach of all the preaching of the gospel of Christ. A church of Christ in every village, training children, consecrating youth, supporting manhood, glorifying age, the home of gentle charities, a quiet resting place, where all learn to love each other beneath the smile of God, is a provision on which God would smile, and by which man would be highly blessed; and feeling this, every true patriot will take every means and make every sacrifice to secure that something, thus answering to a tribe of Levi, shall in our land diffuse the immeasurable advantages of religious truth and united worship. Let all strive to establish, by the consecration of their gifts and labours, the Church of Christ more firmly in our native land.G.
Jos 21:45
The record of God’s faithfulness.
A beautiful little word, recording a nation’s experience, and one adopted as the correct statement of the experience of multitudes that none can number! Look at it, and observe first
I. GOD SPEAKS GOOD THINGS TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. “Good things,” i.e; “of its future: exceeding great and precious promiseswords on which He causes us to hope.” Man lives not in the present only. The past clings to him; the future presses on him. Especially this futurenear and further! Our bliss comes chiefly from its hopes, our sorrows from its fears. With the present it is easy to deal; its form is fixed, and we can determine at once how to meet it. But the future is filled with “maybes” so indefinite and changeful in their form that we cannot settle how to meet or what to do with them. In the case of Israel, God covered all this darkness with His good words of hope. He would go before them; they should be brought to a land flowing with milk and honey; no enemy should stand before them; vineyards they had not planted, cities they had not built, should be theirs. They should find an earthly dwelling place singularly suited for their habitation: fertile for their sustenance, secure for their safety, central for the diffusion of their truth. So God speaks to all His Israel. To every one some promise is given. Even His prodigal children have some promise to cheer them. His sun of promise rises on the evil and on the good; but on the good it sheds its richest warmth. There are great words given to us. Providential mercies are promised; support of the Spirit of all grace is assured us: the Voice behind saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it:” and that temptation s shall not overpower, nor inward weakness destroy us; that we shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved us; that death itself shall be a ministering angel, wrestling with us, but blessing us at “break of day;” that there will be an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom, a perfected likeness to our Lord, an occupation before the throne, in which all our power will find delight and all our capacities be filled with satisfaction. These are the pledges given us. It is well to realise how vast they are, how worthy of the generosity of the infinite God. Be not dismayed, there is no sorrow whose consolation is not pledged in some word of promise, and no perplexity the solution of which is not tendered in some other. Marvel not that the words seem too vast to belong to us. The dimensions of mercy are Divine. Put against every thought of fear these words of comfort and of hope. We are sad and fearful chiefly because we forget them. God speaks good things unto Israel. Observe secondly
II. IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE THAT THESE WORDS SHOULD NOT FAIL. When Moses brought them, the people “believed not for anguish of splint and cruel bondage.” How could such promises be redeemed? They, a nation of slaves, whose spirit was ground out of them; their oppressor having a standing army, strong in cavalry? Impossibilities multiplied as they advanced. By the route they took they found themselves hemmed in by ranges of hills on either hand, sea in front, foe behind them. How could they reach the other side? There were desert difficulties, or rather impossibilities, as to water and food. How could they possibly dispossess the Canaanitish nations, all of them stronger than themselvesthese peoples of Gilead in their fortresses, impregnable by nature, and rendered still more so by consummate art and by the marvellous vigour of the inhabitants? Without artillery of any kind, how could it be deemed a possibility to reduce the fenced cities of the Canaanites? How was Jordan to be crossed, with its deep ravine and swift stream that made it one of the strongest lines of defence that any nation ever had? Ten out of the twelve spiesall of them of course chosen for their couragedeclared the task an utter impossibility. And it is worth our while to mark this, for there is a sort of family likeness running through all God’s promises; and almost all have this look of impossibility about them. I suppose all spies are apt to feel that the promises God has made to us cannot possibly be fulfilled. One battling with doubts deems continuance in saintly living impossible, though God promises grace sufficient. One battling with strong proneness to sin feels it impossible that a feeble seed of grace should survive and conquer forces so much stronger than itself. The promise of usefulness resulting from our labour seems impossible of fulfilment, so does the promise of answers to our prayers. The promise of some survival of death and of our fragile spirit weathering all storms, and reaching a perfect home, seems impossible to be fulfilled. It is well to mark exactly the force of the favourite promises. They are not poor probabilities. They are the grand impossibilities of life. The supernatural enters into all our hopes. They cannot be realised unless God troubles Himself about them. We must not try and eke out faith with the consideration of natural probabilities. The natural probabilities are all against any one of the grander promises being fulfilled. But thirdly observe
III. ALL THE PROMISES WERE FULFILLED. “All came to pass.” There failed not ought of any good thing the Lord had spoken. The sea was crossed; the desert had its food and water; Bashan was subdued; Jordan crossed; the whole land possessed. And all this took place easily, without any hitch whatever, so long as Israel was willing simply to go on. And from then till now the experience of the Church of Christ has, on a large scale and with invariable uniformity, been, that however impossible the fulfilment of God’s promises might seem, they have all been realised exceeding abundantly above all asked or thought. God is the same today as yesterday: not further from us in heart, not feebler in powers. His anointing is not exhausted; He is still fresh to do what He has promised. And if we faithfully follow on in the way in which He leads us, there will not fail ought of the good that God hath spoken to us.G.
HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE
The Privileges of the Jewish Church
Jos 21:43-45
Last among the tribes to know the particular inheritance assigned to them came the Levites, since they were not to occupy a distinct territory, but certain selected cities in each district. By this arrangement each tribe recognised the duty of providing for the support of the service of God, and had religious instructors abiding within its borders. The sacred historian having finished his narrative of the partition of the land, deems it a fitting opportunity to bear witness to the fact that God had proved equal to His word. He had brought His people into their possession, and they were busily engaged in arranging their habitations, tilling the soil and other occupations of landed proprietors. The Israelitish dispensation was typical, foreshadowing the dispensation of the fulness of times, of which theirs was but a dim anticipation, an emblem and a shadow. As mind is superior to matter, and spiritual are preferable to bodily satisfactions, as righteousness is more important than wealth, and elevation of soul more desirable than prowess in war, so do the advantages of which believers in Christ are partakers immeasurably outweigh all that was the portion of the Israelites in their brightest period.
I. AN ENUMERATION OF PRIVILEGES.
(1) Mention is made of the inheritance, the land which they now possessed, and wherein they dwelt. Hope was at last fruition. Buoyed up in their journeys by the thought of the “land flowing with milk and honey,” they had crossed the Jordan and planted their feet on the soil that was to be theirs. When a man realises his sonship to God, the whole earth becomes his. For him the trees unfold their leaves and the birds sing. He takes fresh interest in the world of nature, it is his Father’s garden. But our thoughts centre chiefly in those mercies bought for the Church by Christ at such enormous cost. Forgiveness, justification, adoption, sanctification, whole acres of fruitful soil that yield sustenance to the soul, yea, spiritual luxuries, if only we be diligent. Our inheritance is not to be enjoyed without appropriating effort. The word of God is the register of our estate. The territory expands by viewing, “’tis a broad land of wealth unknown.” The higher we ascend on the hill of meditation, the better shall we behold our property, stretching far and wide, up to heaven and away to eternity. The ground furnishes all manner of fruit; the graces of the Spirit are many. The believer enters into the kingdom of God, an empire larger than that of Charlemagne and he is made richer than Croesus. Angels are his attendants.
(2) Rest is spoken of, rest from wanderings. There may be some of vagabondish tendencies to whom incessant travelling, with the variety it affords, is pleasing, but a nomadic life is neither desired by the majority nor healthful for them. Forty years in the wilderness did not reconcile the Israelites to the continual shifting of the camp. Perhaps no more piteous nor clamorous cry is heard today than the demand for rest. The rush of life is everywhere bewailed. Turmoil and bustle may delight for a season, but soon pall upon the taste and tire the faculties. A gospel intended for men must be capable of meeting the legitimate demands of every age. And the gospel of Jesus Christ claims to give rest to the weary. Not that the Christian is summoned to a position requiring no vigilance nor exercise of his talents. To superficial observers, the disciples who embraced the offer of Jesus may have appeared to lead an extremely unquiet life, now tossing on the waves at their Master’s command, then journeying on foot through hamlets and towns, and finally proclaiming the truth in the midst of foes and persecutors. But rest is not idleness, carnal ease. The Israelites had still their proper work to do. But they were not tormented by the constant need to transport themselves, their wives, and children, and their baggage, to a different residence. The Christian has obtained peace of conscience, rest of soul, by reposing in Christ for security.
(3) The text speaks of victory, or rest from conflict. The inhabitants of Canaan had been defeated in several pitched battles. Many were slain, and others remained scattered in small groups through the land. The period of warfare necessary to acquire possession was at an end. “There stood not a man of all their enemies before them,” etc. And victory is another blessing which God grants the believer. Satan has been driven from the citadel, and the rightful king installed. Sin staggers under a mortal wound. The contest may be long and sharp. The agonised soul cries, “What must I do?” Hopes and fears struggle for the mastery, passions fierce rend the breast, the thunders of Sinai roll, temptations darken the sky. But the radiance of the cross, the glory of the risen Saviour, the brightness of the ascension cloud, these dissipate the gloom, and the believer shouts, Victory! Victory! “Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Henceforth the character of the fight is changed. The enemy may not be completely extirpated; he may be left to prove the Christian, who has only to be true to his Lord, and the country shall be reduced to entire subjection. All the equipment, guidance, and succour requisite are provided; he may go from strength to strength, and if not triumphant, the blame is attributable to himself alone.
II. SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS upon the text.
(1) The Author of our blessings must be held in constant remembrance. Four times in three verses is the name of the Lord repeated. Herein lies the distinction between morality and religion. We are but heathen, if we speak of warring against evil, expelling selfishness, and slaying vice without acknowledging the impulse derived from on high. We are not Christians unless we ascribe the merit of the victory to the Lord, “Thou hast redeemed us by Thy blood.”
(2) Blessings are all the sweeter from contrast with previous trials. Poverty teaches thankfulness for riches, labour enhances subsequent rest. It is the lame man healed that leaps and runs in the joy of his new found powers. Angels can never know the delight of exclaiming, “Whereas I was blind, now I see.” In this way will God recompense the afflicted. The pained in body will be overjoyed to experience ease. The desolate will understand the comfort of sympathy and association with like-minded saints. These vagrant Israelites, harassed by perpetual marching and warfare, estimated highly the privilege of a restful settlement. And to any struggling with difficulty, we say, “Hereafter it shall delight thee to remember these thy labours.” The veteran soldier will talk with honest pride of his wounds, and the traveller of his fatigues.
(3) Reminded of two truths that are like sunbeams in the word of God. The Lord is mindful of His oath, and able to redeem it to the very letter. “There hath not failed ought of any good thing all came to pass.” How often the Israelites murmured because of the length of the way, were tempted to think the promised land a delusive mirage, that it was better to return to Egypt with its certain bondage, but also certain leeks and bread. The report of giants afield overwhelmed them with dismay. They would not look at the stars in the sky, the power of God and His covenant faithfulness. Now, in a class at school, what the teacher says to one is intended for the information of all. And what the Almighty has done to one individual or nation is for the instruction, refreshment, consolation of all. Unbelief is ever ready to lodge suspicion in our breasts. “Hath God forgotten to be gracious?” The holiest men have known seasons of despondency. Shut up in the ark they believe they are safe, but the floods are all around, and the tame of release is long in coming. If tempted to doubt the execution of God’s plans, we must rise above the crowd, and from the tower behold the growth and grand proportions of the city. Withdraw a little, and try to obtain a comprehensive glance at history past and present, and your faith will be confirmed in the accomplishment of the Almighty purposes concerning mankind Order will be educed out of fancied confusion. The building of your faith cannot fall. Seize its pillars and test their strength, the pledged word and omnipotence of God, and all your fright will vanish.
(4) It is ever seasonable to record with gratitude the fulfilment of God’s promises. If we only acted upon this statement in proportion to our consciousness of its truth, there would oftener issue from our complaining lips a burst of thanksgiving. The declaration of the text was reiterated by Joshua in his solemn charge to the people (Jos 23:14), and a similar testimony was borne by Solomon at the dedication of the temple (1Ki 8:56). What monuments were constructed and institutions established in order to commemorate the faithfulness of Jehovah! And we to whom “the fulness of the time” is come, could surely tune our harps to louder, nobler anthems, by reason of the more excellent gifts poured upon us from the treasury of Infinite Love, in accordance with His prophecies. “Praise our God all ye people!” His glory and our welfare concur in demanding this tribute of gratitude.
THIS SUBJECT RAISES OUR THOUGHT TO HEAVEN, as the place to which perfect rest and enjoyment of our inheritance are reserved. We have here “the spirit of promise as the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of our purchased possession.” This is the morning twilight, that the noon; this the portico, that, the inner palace; this the foretaste, that the banquet; this the type, that the reality. Here “we groan being burdened,” there we have the house eternal, the body that is the out-flashing glory of the spirit. Here we slake our thirst and appease our hunger, and soon we crave again; there “they hunger no more, neither thirst any more,” for the Lamb doth feed them, and lead them to living fountains of water. Here we revive under the physician’s touch, and fall ill again; there the inhabitants never have to say, “I am sick.”A.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
Jos 21:45
God’s faithfulness.
This cannot mean that the Divine plan in reference to Israel’s possession of the land was now in all respects completely fulfilled. The Canaanite still dwelt in certain parts of it, and was never really cast out. But in the main the work was done. The country, as a whole, was subdued, and the invaders no longer had any formidable opposition to contend with. Moreover, God’s part in the work was fully accomplished. Whatever partial failure there may have been was due to Israel’s faithlesssness and weakness. There was no failure in God. He had been inflexibly true to His purpose. His word had not been broken. “There failed not ought,” etc. The absolute fidelity of God to His purposes and promises is our theme. Let us take a broad view of it.
I. THE GENERAL CONSTITUTION AND ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE ILLUSTRATES THE DIVINE FAITHFULNESS. The universe of being is but an embodiment of the thought of God. A Divine purpose governs every part of it. His laws are not only expressions of His will, but are of the nature of pledges and promises, and no law is ever frustrated, no promise ever broken. They partake of the eternal steadfastness of His essential Being. “They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.”
(1) It is so in the material realm. Physical laws are simply the impress of the eternal mind on matter and the method by which that Mind sees fit to mould and govern it. The “course of nature” is but a continual unfolding of the steadfast thought and purpose of God. The world passed through many structural changes before it was trodden by the foot of man, and has passed through many since, but the laws that govern it have been the same from the beginning. Ages pass before those laws are discovered, but they existed of old. Great liberty of action is given to man within the natural order, but he cannot change it in one iota. It is a rock against which the waves of his self will and vain ambition only dash themselves in piecesso beneficent and yet so terrible in its inflexibility; rewarding his trust, yet rebuking his presumption; inflicting on his ignorance and feebleness so severe a penalty, and yet guarding and befriending it. Our place in this great system of things is that of learners. Our highest science and skill are but a feeble answer to its truth and certainty. Life proceeds on the principle of trust in the constancy of nature, which is but another name for the faithfulness of God.
(2) It is so in the moral sphere. The material order is but the shadow and reflection of the moral. Moral laws belong to a world not of shadows and appearances, but of substantial and enduring reality. “The things that are seen are temporal,” etc. If there is fixity in the principles that govern the outer, how much more in those that govern the inner, life of man. Our earthly existence is a restless ebb and flow of circumstance and feeling. No two human histories, no two social situations, events, experiences, are alike. And yet there is “nothing new under the sun.” “That which hath been is now” etc. (Ecc 3:15). As the kaleidoscope, out of a few simple shapes and colours, presents ever-changing forms of beauty to the eye, so does the revolution of our days and years embody in an endless variety of forms the primary principles and laws that govern our moral life. Those laws partake of the nature of the Lawgiver. They change not, “raft not,” because He is “without variableness,” etc. Whether as regards the threatening of evil or the promise of good, all infallibly “come to pass.” Conceive it in a single case to be otherwise, and the whole moral system of things is involved in utter confusion and hopeless ruin.
II. THE SPHERE OF FULFILLED PROPHECY ILLUSTRATES IT. Prophecy, as at once an inspiration and a revelation, is essentially supernatural, Divine. As regards its predictive element, it is as a passing gleam of light from the Infinite Intelligence, to which all things, past, present, and future, are alike “naked and opened.” The prophet, as a seer, is one for whom God’s own hand has for a moment lifted the veil of the future. Every really prophetic word is thus a Divine pledge, and its fulfilment is the redemption of that pledge. Biblical revelations from the beginning breathe the spirit of prophecy, and biblical history is rich in the verification of it. What is the whole career of Israelits national existence, its captivities and deliverances, the advent of Messiah and His glorious kingdom, the after destiny of the Hebrew peoplebut the translation of prophecy into history? Thus does age after age present some new testimony to the truth and faithfulness of God. Dispensations change, the generations come and go, but His purposes move on steadily to their accomplishment. “Not one faileth.” Heaven and earth may pass away, but His word shall not pass away.
III. THE COVENANT OF GRACE ILLUSTRATES IT. In this the covenant made with Abraham found its consummation (Gen 22:18). David died in the calm, glad faith of it. “Yet hath He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure etc. (2Sa 23:5). Having its birth in the depths of a past eternity, being no mere after thought, it was manifested “in the fulness of time” in Him “in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen.” His blood is the seal of the everlasting covenant. In Him God “performed the mercy promised to the fathers,” and “the word that He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began.” And as all foregoing ages foreshadowed it, so do the after ages give ever accumulating witness to its truth and certainty. Every earnest Christian lifeevery reward of obedient faith, every answered prayer, every new victory over deathconfirms it. Our fathers trusted in it and were not put to shame. They passed peacefully away with its language on their lips, and the hope of immortality it enkindled in their hearts. We ourselves are learning more and more daily how worthy it is of our trust. And we know that when the tale of our changeful life is told, and we also shall have passed away, our children will enter into the inheritance of blessing with the “long interest” of added years: “heirs together with us of the grace” it reveals.
“The words of God’s extensive love
From age to age endure;
The angel of the covenant proves
And seals the blessing sure.”
“All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1Pe 1:24, 1Pe 1:25).W.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE
Fulfillment of God’s Promises
Jos 21:43-45
“The Lord is not a man that He should lie, or the Son of Man that He should repent.” His promises are “yea and amen.” This is the great truth brought home to us by the beautiful conclusion of the partition of the land of Canaan. “The Lord gave to Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass” (verses 48, 45). Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of the Lord must stand.
(1) His word cannot return to Him void; for it is always instinct with vital power. “In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.” God spoke, and a world sprang into being. Every word of prophecy has been fulfilled in the history of our race. His promises in like manner can never be empty wordsthey must have an answering reality.
(2) He is the God of truth, ever faithful to Himself.
(3) He is the God of love, and His love cannot belie itself.
(4) He is the God of eternal ages. To Him there is no interval between the promise and its fulfilment; it is to our apprehension only that the promise tarries. The new Israel may say, like Israel of old, “Not one good word has failed of all that He has spoken.” The covenant of grace is a new land of promise. In it the Church has found a settled abiding place: it has overcome its adversaries and shall go on conquering and to conquer. So also shall it be with the third great land of promise, the heavenly Canaan. Upon this inheritance shall the redeemed at last enter singing, with a new meaning, this old song of triumph: “The Lord hath given us rest round about, according to all that He sware unto our fathers” (Jos 21:44).E. DE P.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 1. Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar Immediately after the designation of the cities of refuge, the heads of the Levites, i.e. the chiefs of the families of Levi, who descended from Kohath, Gershom, and Merari, came and presented themselves before Eleazar, Joshua, and the princes of the tribes, (Num 34:18.,) whom God had commissioned to divide the country. They related the orders which God had formerly issued in their favour, Num 35:2; Num 35:34 and therefore begged that the council at Shilo would be pleased to assign them cities in the several tribes. It is to be observed, that the Lord, displeased at the violence used by Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites, had denounced against them, that he would divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. This sentence had been already executed towards the descendants of Simeon, whose portion was placed within that of Judah. It would have been the same with respect to the descendants of Levi, but for the fidelity of that tribe at the time of the idolatry of the golden calf. Without revoking, therefore, the sentence pronounced against Levi’s posterity, the Lord so disposed matters, that what had at first been a disgrace to the Levites, became a mark of honour. By commanding that they should be divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel, he had declared, that he himself would be their portion; and that being dispersed, as his ministers, among the rest of their brethren, they should be maintained by them, as the interpreters of his word and will. To effect this arrangement, so honourable to them, they here solicit Joshua and the commissioners with him on the subject.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
5. Appointment of the Cities for the Priests and Levites
Joshua 21
a. Demand of the Levites that Cities should be given them
Jos 21:1-3
1Then [And] 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 2tribes of the children [sons] of Israel; And they [omit: they] spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The Lord [Jehovah] commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs [and their pasture-grounds; De Wette: their circuits; Bunsen: common-pastures; Knobel: driving-grounds] for our cattle. 3And the children [sons] of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance [possession], at the commandment of the Lord [Jehovah], these cities and their suburbs [pasture-grounds].
b. General Account of the Levitical Cities.
Jos 21:4-8
4And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children [sons] of Aaron1 the priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon [the Simeonites], and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. 5And the rest of the children [sons] 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. 6And the children [sons] 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 7cities. The children [sons] 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. 8And the children [sons] of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with [and] their suburbs [pasture-grounds], as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.
c. Cities of the Children of Aaron (Cities of the Priests)
Jos 21:9-19
9And they gave out of the tribe of the children [sons] of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children [sons] of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name [which were called by name], 10Which the children [sons] of Aaron,2 being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot. 11And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak (which city is Hebron) in the hill-country [on the mountain] of Judah, with the suburbs 12thereof [and its pasture-grounds] round about it. But [And] the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for [in] his possession. 13Thus [And] they gave to the children of Aaron the priest, Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city [the city] of refuge3 for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs, 14And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs, 15And Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs, 16And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs, 18Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities. 19All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
d. Cities of the remaining Kohathites
Jos 21:20-26
20And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites which [who] remained of the children of Kohath, even [omit: even] they had the cities of their lot out 21of the tribe of Ephraim. For [And] they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city [the city] of refuge4 for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs, 22And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Beth-horon with her-suburbs; four cities. 23And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs, 24Aijalon with her suburbs, Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; four cities. 25And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gath-rimmon, with her suburbs; two cities. 26All the cities were ten with their suburbs, for the families of the children of Kohath that remained.
e. The Cities of the Gershonites (comp. Jos 21:6)
Jos 21:27-33
27And unto the children [sons] of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other [omit: other] half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer,5 and Beesh-terah with her suburbs; two cities. 28And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs, 29Jarmuth with her suburbs, En-gannim with her suburbs; four cities. 30And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs, 31Helkath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs; four cities. 32And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer;6 and Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities. 33All the cities of the Gershonites, according to their families, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
f. The Cities of the Merarites (comp. Jos 21:7)
Jos 21:34-42
34And unto the families of the children [sons] of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs, 35Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four cities. 36And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs, 37Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs; four cities. 38And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer;7 and Mahanaim with her suburbs, 39Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all. 40So all the cities [All the cities] for the children [sons] of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.8 41All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. 42These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them. Thus were [So to] all these cities.
g. Conclusion
Jos 21:43-45
43And the Lord [Jehovah] gave unto Israel all the land which he sware [had sworn] to give unto their fathers: and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. 44And the Lord [Jehovah] gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware [had sworn] unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord [Jehovah] delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord [Jehovah] had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The chapter contains the catalogue of the Levitical cities, which were appointed according to the regulations already given by Moses, Num 35:1 ff. There were forty-eight of them in all, of which six were at the same time (Joshua 20) cities of refuge. On Kieperts Wall Map they are distinguished by a colored line drawn under each [on Clarks Bible Atlas of Maps and Plans, by being printed in small capitals, and on Menkes by a distinguishing mark].
The list of the Levitical cities is given also in 1Ch 6:39-66, with several in part easily removable deviations, due probably, as Keil supposes (ii. 1, p. 156, note), to another documentary source. The chronicler names only forty-two cities, although he also relates Jos 21:45 ff. that the children of Aaron had received thirteen, the other Kohathites ten, the Gershonites thirteen, the Merarites twelve cities, in all therefore forty-eight. Omitted are (1) Jutta in Judah, (2) Gibeon in Benjamin, (3) Eltekeh in Dan, (4) Gibbethon in Dan, (5) Jokneam in Zebulun, (6) Nahalal in Zebulun. Knobel seeks the reason in mere negligence on the part either of the chronicler himself or of a transcriber. Judging somewhat more leniently, we may find the explanation in an oversight, well deserving excuse amid so many names. If, further, the author of Chronicles gives to some extent different names, many of them exhibit faulty readings; as for (Jos 21:25), for (Jos 21:29), etc., but others, on the contrary, the true reading, as for (Jos 21:16), for (Jos 21:25), and for (Jos 21:35). In other places he shows only different forms of the same name, as the examples cited by Keil, for ,, for ,, for , and many others (Keil, ub. sup.). Some, finally, are probably different designations of the same city, as for ,, for , and for (1Ch 6:53; 1Ch 6:58 [Eng. 68, 73] compared with Jos 21:22; Jos 21:29.
a. Jos 21:1-3. Demand of the Levites that Cities should be given to them. The account which we have here of the application of the heads of the tribe (Exo 6:14; Exo 6:25) reminds us of Jos 13:6, where it is similarly told concerning Caleb, that he, accompanied by members of his tribe, brings to mind the promise that had been given him by Moses. Calvin regards it as probable that the Levites had been forgotten, adducing in support of this: Sic enim accidere solet, dum quisque ad sua curanda attentus est, ut fratrum obliviscatur. Considering the great respect in which their fellow tribesman of that day, Eleazar, was held, and that he himself shared in the distribution of the land, we may much rather assume with Masius (in Keil, p. 155), illos, cum res ad eam opportunitatem perduc fuissent, accessisse ad divisores communi suorum tribulium nomine ut designatas ab illis urbes sortirentur. They had not deemed it opportune to urge their claim before.
b. Jos 21:4-8. Account of the Levitical cities in general. According to Exo 6:16-20, and Num 3:17-19, compared with 1 Chron. 5:276:34 [Eng. 1Ch 6:1-49], we have the following family-tree for the Levites, to keep which before the eyes may help to understand the following allotment:
Levi.
1. Gershon.
2. Kohath.
3. Merari (Exo 6:16; Num 3:17).
1. Amram.
2. Izhar.
3. Hebron.
4. Uzziel (Exo 6:18; Num 3:19).
1. Aaron.
2. Moses (Exo 6:20).
Aarons posterity received the priesthood, Num 18:1-2; Num 18:7 (1Ch 6:49). All the other Levites, hence the descendants of Moses also, were appointed, Num 18:3-6 (1Ch 6:33 [48]), to the inferior service of the sanctuary. The children of Israel, according to Num 35:6 ff., determined what cities the families of the Levites should receive, but the lot decided which of these cities each particular family should have.
Jos 21:4. The first lot came out for the families of the Kohathites, and, among these, for the sons of Aaron the priest, of the Levites. They, namely, the proper priests, received thirteen cities in the territory of the tribe of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. Upon which Calvin remarks: Quod non contigit fortuito eventu: quia Deus pro admirabili suo cohsilio in ea sede eos locavit, ubi statuerat templum sibi eligere.
Jos 21:5. The other Kohathites, that is, the posterity of Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel, and, in the line of Amram, those of Moses, shared ten cities in the land of Ephraim, Dan, and Manasseh west of the Jordan.
Jos 21:6. The Gershonites received eighteen cities of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh east of the Jordan.
Jos 21:7. To the Merarites were allotted twelve cities out of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
c. Jos 21:9-19. The Cities of the Sons of Aaron (cities of the priests). In Jos 21:9-16 are mentioned the cities which the Aaronides received in the country of Simeon and Judah, then in Jos 21:17-19 the four cities of Benjamin. That they had so many was reasonable in view of the future increase of the posterity of Aaron.
[Keil, Bibl. Comm. Jos 2:1, pp. 155, 156, says on this topic: This number for the cities allotted to the Levites will not appear too large if we consider, that (1) most of the cities of Canaan, to judge from the great number in so small a country, could not have been very large; (2) the Levites were not the sole occupants of these cities, but had only the necessary abodes in them for themselves, and pasture for their cattle in the vicinity, while the remaining space was for the other tribes; (3) that the twenty-three thousand male persons which the Levites numbered in the second census in the steppes of Moab, when distributed among thirty-five cities, would give to each six hundred and fifty-seven males, or about thirteen hundred male and female Levites. On the other hand, the allowance of thirteen cities to the priests has raised objections tending to the supposition that, since Aaron, in Joshuas time, could scarcely have had so numerous a posterity from his two remaining sons as to fill two, not to speak of thirteen cities, therefore the catalogue betrays a document of a much later date (Maurer and others). But in this, not only is there ascribed to those who effected the division, the monstrous short-sightedness of assigning to the priests their abodes with reference merely to their necessity at that time, and without regard to their future increase, but also of having taken the size of the cities as much too important, and the number of the Levites as much too small. But it was not at all designed that the cities should be filled with the families of the priests. And although the poll-list of the priests then living is nowhere given, still, if we remember that Aaron died in the fortieth year of the exodus, at the age of one hundred and twenty-three years (Num 33:38), and so was already eighty-three years old when they left Egypt, it will appear that there might be now, seven years after his death, descendants of the fourth generation. But his two sons had twenty-four male offspring who founded the twenty-four classes of priests instituted by David (1 Chronicles 24.). If, then, we allow only six males respectively to each of the following generations, the third generation would already have numbered one hundred and forty-four persons, who, ranging from twenty-five to thirty-five years of age at the distribution of the land, might now have had eight hundred and sixty-four male children. Thus the total number of male persons of the priestly class might at that time have amounted to over one thousand, or to at least two hundred families. Tr.]
Jos 21:9. The cities were called by name, that is, they indicated them by their names, specified them by name (Knobel).
Jos 21:10. The subject of the principal sentence is , which must be supplied from the parenthetical explanatory sentence (for theirs was the first lot). The awkwardness of the construction reminds us of Jos 17:1.
Jos 21:11-12. The first city named is Hebron, here also as in Jos 15:13, and often, called the city of Arba. When this Arba is here called the father of Anok, , but elsewhere always the father of Anak (, ), the is undoubtedly a mere variety of pronunciation of the same name. The A sound easily passes over, in the German dialects also into the O sound. At Hebron the Levites received, besides the city, only (from , to drive), the drives, the pasture-grounds, but not the tillable land which, with the villages thereon, belonged to Caleb (Jos 14:12). Compare also in reference to the , Jos 21:3, as well as Num 35:2.
Jos 21:13 repeats the sense of Jos 21:11 on account of the parenthetical remark in Jos 21:12. Libnah (Jos 15:42; Jos 10:29); Jattir (Jos 15:48); Eshtemoa (Jos 15:50); Holon (Jos 15:51); Debir (Jos 15:15; Jos 15:49; Jos 10:38); Ain (Jos 15:32); Jutta (Jos 15:55); Bethshemesh (Jos 15:10). Of the cities so far enumerated six, Hebron, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Jutta, lay on the mountain of Judah; two, Libnah and Beth-shemesh, in the lowland, to which is added one city of Simeon, Ashan in the lowland (, Jos 15:42; Jos 19:7, as should be read, 1Ch 6:44 (59), instead of .
Jos 21:17 ff. The four Levitical cities in Benjamin, Gibeon (Jos 9:3 ff; Jos 10:1 ff; Jos 18:25), Geba (Jos 18:24), Anathoth, and Almon. The two latter are wanting in the list of the cities of Benjamin, and are therefore still to be spoken of here. Anathoth (), Jeremiahs birth-place (Jer 1:1; Jer 29:27), whose inhabitants, however, hated him (Jer 11:21), and were therefore threatened by the indignant prophet (Jer 11:22-23), lies one hour and a quarter (Furrer one hour and seventeen minutes) northeast of Jerusalem, and is now called Anata, built on a height rising a little above the table-land. As traces of its antiquity, Furrer, who made a trip thither from Jerusalem (pp. 7580), found in a house stones with jointed edges, three feet long and one and a half feet wide (p. 77). Robinson (who first recognized in Anata the ancient Anathoth, while ecclesiastical tradition had chosen for it another site, near the village of Kuryet el-Enab, about three hours from Jerusalem on the road to Ramleh, and had called it Jeremi) also notices ancient remains of walls, and, like Furrer, praises the prospect from this place (Rob. 2:109, 110; Furrer, p. 77). The statements of Joseph. (Ant. Jos 10:7; Jos 10:3), of the Onom., and of Jerome in the Comm. in Jeremiah 1, on the distance of Anathoth from Jerusalem have been proved correct (see von Raumer, p. 171). Almon (, 1Ch 6:45(60) ), now Almit (Rob. Later Bibl. Res. 287) or el-Mid, as Tobler writes it (Denkbl. p. 631, note 1), situated a little to the northeast of Anathoth. A place of ruins.
Jos 21:19. Thirteen cities in all.
d. Jos 21:20-26. The Cities of the remaining Kohathites. Of these there were ten, namely, four in Ephraim (Jos 21:22), four in Dan (Jos 21:24), two in west Manasseh Jos 21:25).
Jos 21:20-22. a. Four Cities in Ephraim,Shechem (Jos 17:7), Gezer (Jos 10:33; Jos 16:3), Kibzaim (instead of which 1Ch 6:53 (68) has , not discovered. That Kibzaim and Jokmeam may be, as Knobel and Keil suppose, different names of the same place, is confirmed perhaps by the fact referred to by Gesenius in his Lex., that , gathered by the people, from r. , and from to collect, cognate with , Eze 22:20, have a quite similar etymology. The fourth city is Beth-horon. Whether the upper or lower city, is not said (Keil).
Jos 21:23-24. . Four Cities in Dan,Eltekeh, Gibbethon (Jos 19:44), Aijalon (Jos 10:12; Jos 19:42), Gath-rimmon (Jos 19:45).
Ver 25 . , Two Cities in West Manasseh; Tanach (Jos 12:21; Jos 17:11). Gath-rimmon, an old mistake in copying for (1Ch 6:55 [70]), that is Ibleam (Jos 17:11).
Jos 21:26. In all, ten cities.
e. Jos 21:27-33. The Cities of the Gershonites. Thirteen, again, as with the sons of Aaron (Jos 21:4; Jos 21:19), namely, two in East Manasseh (Jos 21:2), four in Issachar (Jos 21:28), four in Asher (Jos 21:30), three in Naphtali (Jos 21:32).
Jos 21:27. a. Two Cities in East Manasseh.Golan (Jos 20:8; Deu 4:43). Beesh-tera (, cont. from , that is, House of Astarte; called 1Ch 6:56 (71) . It was plainly a city with a temple of Astarte, perhaps the Ashteroth-Karnaim mentioned in Gen 14:5 as the residence of Og, king of Bashan, the site of which cannot now be determined. In any case, we must not, as Keil and Knobel observe, think of the present Busra in the east of Hauran (as Reland does, pp. 621, 662), for this was called even from ancient times , (1Ma 5:26; Joseph. Ant. Jos 12:8; Jos 12:3), hence as now , which the Greeks and Romans corrupted into (Knobel). But we must not either refer, as Knobel would, to a Bostra or Bustra on Mount Hermon, north of Banias, since the territory of the tribes did not extend so far north. Knobel, indeed, assumes this when he discovers Baal-gad in Heliopolis; which view we have attempted to disprove in Jos 11:17. The site of this Beeshterah, therefore, must be regarded as not yet ascertained. That the name Beeshtera should occur more than once, and therefore on Mount Hermon, is owing to the wide spread of the worship of Astarte through that region. So much the more difficult will it be to make out the situation of our city.
Jos 21:28-29. . Four Cities in Issachar:Kishon (Jos 19:20), Dabareh (Jos 19:12), Jarmuth, En-gannim (Jos 19:21).
Jos 21:30-31. . Four Cities in Asher:Mishal (Jos 19:26), Abdon (Jos 19:28), Helkath (Jos 19:25), Rehob (Jos 19:28).
Jos 21:32. . Three Cities in Naphtali:Kedesh (Jos 19:37), Hammoth-dor, called Hammath in Jos 19:35, and Hammon in 1Ch 6:61 (76), Kartan (, according to Keil contracted from = , 1Ch 6:61 (76), like Dothan, 2Ki 6:13, from Dothain, Gen 37:17), not named among the cities of Naphtali. Knobel says: Perhaps Katanah, with ruins, northeast from Safed, in Van de Velde, Mem. p. 147.
Jos 21:33. Thirteen cities in all.
f. Jos 21:34-42. The Cities of the Merarites. They acquired twelve cities (Jos 21:40), namely, four in the tribe of Zebulun (Jos 21:34), four in the tribe of Reuben (Jos 21:36), and four in the tribe of Gad; mostly therefore in eastern Palestine.
Jos 21:34-35. a. Four Cities in Zebulun:Jokneam (Joshua 12:32; Jos 19:11), Kartah (Jos 19:15), Dimnah, perhaps = or (Jos 19:13; 1Ch 6:62). So Knobel and others. Keil questions the identity, because in the passage quoted from the Chronicles the text is undoubtedly corrupt, since it presents not four but only two cities, Rimmono and Tabor. Nahalal (Jos 19:15). Instead of this Tabor, 1Ch 6:62.
Jos 21:36-37. . Four Cities in Reuben:Bezer (Jos 20:8; Deu 4:43), Jahazah, Kedemoth, and Mephaath (Jos 13:18). Both verses are supported by the majority of Codd., are not wanting in the early translations, and correspond to the statements of Jos 21:7; Jos 21:40-41. When Rabbi Jacob ben Chasim omitted them in his great Rabbinic Bible of the year 1525, on the authority of the Masora, he proceeded altogether without right, cf. Knobel, p. 474; Keil, Bibl. Com., p. 155, Anm. 2; and Com. on Josh., p. 457, note; also De Rossi, Vari Lectiones, ad h. l., and J. H. Michaelis, note to his Heb. Bibl., ed. Halle (ap. Keil, l. c.).
Jos 21:38-39. . Four Cities in the Tribe of Gad:Ramoth in Gilead (Jos 20:8; Jos 13:26), Mahanaim (Jos 13:26), Heshbon (Jos 13:17), Jazer (Jos 13:25).
Jos 21:40. Twelve cities in all.
Jos 21:41-42. End of the list of Levitical cities. There were forty-eight of them, as had been commanded, Num 35:6, and as is here again mentioned. Each one had its pasture-ground; , city city, i.e., each city according to the manner of distributive numerals, Gesenius, Gram. 118, 5.
g. Jos 21:42-45. Conclusion. He refers to what God had said to Joshua, Jos 1:2-6, when he directed him to take possession of the land.
Jos 21:43. Jehovah gave Israel the land which he had sworn to their fathers (Gen 12:7; Gen 15:18; Num 11:12; Num 32:11; Deu 31:21). And they possessed it, and dwelt therein. The same expression is used Jos 19:47.
Jos 21:44. And he gave them rest round about, as he likewise had sworn to their fathers (Exo 33:14; Deu 3:20; Deu 25:19). Their enemies could not stand against them, and although these were not yet entirely subjugated, as appears from Judg. i. they dared no enterprise against the Israelites while Joshua lived (Jdg 2:6 ff.). As Rahab said to the spies (Jos 2:9), a terror had fallen on the Canaanites.
Jos 21:45. The good words not one of which failed (, fell), i.e., remained unfulfilled (Jos 23:14), are Gods promises. Comp. on this in the New Testament, 2Co 1:20, God is in his promises truthful, and keeps them, only that we through unbelief and indifference ourselves stand in the way, Osiander.
Footnotes:
[1][Jos 21:4. , strictly: and there were for the sons of Aaron . by the lot thirteen cities. And so through the following verses to the 7th inclusive.Tr.]
[2][Jos 21:10. , as in verse 4, properly: And there was for the sons of Aaron [sc. the lot, see exeg. note], or, there were [the cities]. The subject in any case has to be supplied, on account of the parenthesis at the end of the verse.Tr.]
[3][Jos 21:13. Hebron the city of refuge for the slayer, and its pasture-grounds. It may be remarked, once for all, that suburbs in the version, should uniformly throughout the chapter be understood in the sense which we have hitherto indicated by substituting pasture-grounds. The with which precedes it should as uniformly be and.Tr.]
[4][Jos 21:21. Heb. nearly as in Jos 21:13. And they gave them the city of refuge for the slayer, Shechem and its pasture-grounds, on Mount Ephraim.Tr.]
[5][Jos 21:27. As in Jos 21:21 : The city of refuge for the slayer, Golan, in Bashan, etc.Tr.]
[6][Jos 21:32. As in Jos 21:27.Tr.]
[7][Jos 21:38. As in Jos 21:27; Jos 21:32.Tr.]
[8][Jos 21:40. Heb. with broken construction: and their lot was twelve cities.Tr.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The portion of the Levites forms the particular heads of this chapter: eight and forty cities in number are assigned to them; and the chapter closes with an observation on God’s faithfulness in the fulfillment of his promises.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I cannot pass over these verses, which bring before us the claim of the Levites, without desiring the Reader to attend to those two things, First, though the Lord had graciously promised Levi to be his portion and consequently would provide for him yet Levi is to ask it. “For these things, saith the Lord” concerning all spiritual as well as temporal blessings, “I will be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.” Eze 36:37 . And secondly, Levi, though brought near to the Lord, to minister before him, is the last to be supplied in the church of God. Oh! that the ministers of Jesus would always keep this in remembrance. As servants at their Lord’s table, the children ought first to be served; and a kind and generous master will never let them go unremembered. Here again, as in all other instances, dearest Jesus, how doth thy precious person go before us in all the loveliness of example, when thou camest not to be administered unto, but to minister, and to give thy life a ransom for many. Methinks I hear those words of Jesus vibrate in my ears, I am among you as one that serveth. Mat 20:26-28 ; Luk 22:27 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
After Rest
Joshua 20-24
THE twentieth chapter deals with the Cities of Refuge. A very beautiful expression is that “City of Refuge.” Very suggestive, too. But there is a great black shadow in the middle of it: for why should men want refuge? The term is noble in itself, but what is it in its suggestion? Surely it means that there is a pursuing storm. We have heard travellers say that by making haste they will just be in time to escape the impending tempest; so they quicken their steps, and when they gain the threshold of the sanctuary they were aiming at, they breathe a sigh of relief and thankfulness. The sanctuary is doubly dear to them. Home is always sweet, or ought to be; but how sweeter than the honeycomb when it is reached under circumstances which try the spirit, exasperate the sensibilities, and weigh heavily on the soul! In this case there is a pursuing storm, but not of weather a social storm. The man who is running has killed a man, and the one who is following him is “the avenger of blood.” Who will be first in the city? God will help the first runner, if it be but by one step he will be in before the pursuer can lay hold of him. There is a wondrous ministry of helpfulness operating in the world. We are helped in a thousand ways, not always in the one way in which we want to be helped, but in some other way; yet the help always comes. Was the refuge then for the murderer? No; there was no refuge for the murderer. But is it not said that the man who is fleeing to the city of refuge has killed some person? Yes, it is so said; but a definition is given which clears up all the moral side of the mystery:
“The slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither” ( Jos 20:3 ).
“And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.” ( Jos 20:7-9 )
Now Joshua proceeds with his valedictory speech. Here and there he records a sentence which belongs to all time. The twenty-first chapter has little or nothing to say except to the people to whom it specially related; but in summing up the twenty-first chapter Joshua says,
“There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel” ( Jos 21:45 ).
A noble testimony this, too, borne by the old man. It is not youth that anticipates, it is age that reviews. Old men never become infidels. We say sometimes that seldom is an old man converted to Christianity. How far that may be true we cannot tell; but did ever an old pilgrim who had once seen heaven opened, turn round and say, in his wrinkled old age, that he was going to the city of Negation, or to the wilderness of Atheism? Old men ought to be heard upon these subjects; they have lived a lifetime; they have fought upon a thousand battlefields; they know all the darkness of the night, all the sharpness of winter, all the heat of summer, and they have a right to be heard upon his question; and their testimony on the side of the Bible is united, distinct, emphatic, and unanswerable.
Another point is found in chapter Jos 22:5 :
“But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ( Jos 20:5 )
“Return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession…. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law” ( Jos 22:4-5 ).
It would seem as if some interviews in life could not be satisfactorily closed but with the language of benediction. An ordinary word would be wholly out of place. There is a fitness of things in human communication as in all other affairs and concerns of life. It is fitting, too, that the benediction should be spoken by the old man. Joshua was “old and stricken in years,” and he concluded the audience fitly by blessing the children of Israel:
“So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went unto their tents” ( Jos 22:6 ).
Now the children of Israel go to their tents: They are to be at peace. Ceasing war they are to be students of war. We shall hear no more of controversy; every man having received the blessing is a good man, and there is an end of a tumult which at one time threatened never to cease. So we should imagine, but our imagining is wrong:
“Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given possession in Bashan: but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them. And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses” ( Jos 22:7-9 ).
“And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel” ( Jos 22:13-14 ).
“Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice: but that it may be a witness” ( Jos 22:26-27 ).
This being settled, a very tender scene occurs. Joshua gathers all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, calls for the children of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and talks to them historically and grandly. He called the people themselves to witness what God had done for them:
“And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you” ( Jos 23:3 ).
Not only so, but he uses a very searching expression:
“And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof” ( Jos 23:14 ).
“Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;… But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day” ( Jos 23:6-8 ).
What is the call of these verses? It is a call to moral courage. The people were soldiers; when they saw that an altar had been reared to heaven which they did not like, and which they misunderstood, instantly they sped from their tents and challenged the builders to battle. That is the rudest courage; there is nothing in it. Many men can fight who cannot suffer; many are brave in activity who are cowards in waiting. Joshua calls the people now to thought, study, quiet and consistent and continuous obedience namely, “Cleave unto the Lord.” Without this, growth would be impossible. Men cannot grow in the midst of continual or unbroken excitement. We grow when we are at rest; we grow not a little when we are in the shade; we advance when the burden is crushing us, and we are not uttering one complaining word because of its fatal weight. When the history of the land is written as it ought to be written, many a battle which now fills pages and chapters will be dismissed with a contemptuous sentence; and sufferings at home, quiet endurances, Christian manifestations of patience, will be magnified as indicative of the real dauntlessness, the heavenly bravery, the lasting courage. Let every man examine himself herein. To say “No” to a tempting offer is to win a battle: to receive a blow from an enemy and not return it, is to reach the point of coronation in Christ’s great kingdom; to hear a rough speech and make a gentle reply is to evince what is meant by growing in grace. So the history rolls on, from battle to battle, from mistake to mistake, from point to point, until at last the moral displaces the material, questions of the soul put into their right place questions of rank; and moral courage simple, loving, unquestioning obedience is set at the head of all the virtues; and the quiet, meek, submissive, patient soul is crowned and throned, and stablished amid the hierarchy of heaven. We cannot dazzle the world by our greatness, but we can please God by our goodness; we cannot harness the winds and make them bear our names far and wide, but we can so live, so suffer, so speak, as to constrain the enemy to say, Verily, this man is a prophet; verily, this man has been with Jesus and learned of him; verily, there is in this supposed weakness a wonderful and enduring strength.
We cannot but be struck by the equality of the divine way as it is marked by the venerable leader. The fifteenth verse is very expressive upon this point:
“Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you” ( Jos 23:15 ).
“When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you” ( Jos 23:16 ).
Joshua having gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and delivered unto them his final speech. Again we are thrown upon the grand truth that men must bring all their history into one view at certain periods, that thereby they may renew their covenant and revive their best hope. The work of the Lord is not of yesterday; it goes back through all the generations; and he is the wise scribe, well instructed in holy things, who brings into one view all the course of the divine education of the world. This is what Joshua did in brief in the twenty-fourth chapter. Having given the historical outline, the old man began to exhort the people, saying:
“Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth” ( Jos 24:14 ).
” but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” ( Jos 24:15 ).
“God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods’ ( Jos 24:16 ).
Then they review and repeat the solemn history and say that all Joshua has said is true in fact. Then Joshua says unto the people “What you have now said amounts to little more than mere words; you forget that God is a holy God and a jealous God, and you are speaking from impulse rather than from settled conviction.” Then the people reply that Joshua himself is mistaken, and they have really made up their minds once for all to serve the Lord. So be it, then, said Joshua “Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him.” The people answered That is even so; “We are witnesses.” Then said Joshua, There is one final word to be spoken. If you have made up your minds to this course, you must put away the strange gods which are among you; no taint of idolatry must remain behind; not the very smallest image must be taken with you one day longer or one inch further; the expurgation must be immediate, complete, and final. The people answered unanimously: “The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.” It was indeed a solemn day; a day of covenant, a day of memorial, a day which condensed into its throbbing hours generations of history and strong and ardent pulsings of devotion and prophetic service. A covenant was made, and a statute and an ordinance were set in Shechem. To make, if possible, the matter inviolably permanent, “Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord” ( Jos 24:26 ). Then a very solemn scene occurs:
“And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God” ( Jos 24:27 ).
Then the assembly broke up. It broke up never to meet again under the same wise and valiant leadership. All pathetic occasions should be treasured in the memory; the last interview, the last sermon, the last prayer, the last fond lingering look; all these things may be frivolously treated as sentimental, but he who treats them so is a fool in his heart: whatever can subdue the spirit, chasten the sensibilities, and enlarge the charity of the soul should be encouraged as a ministry from God. Now Joshua dies, at the age of one hundred and ten. He was buried in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
“And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel” ( Jos 24:31 ).
Now the history is done. The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, were buried in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem. Then men died quickly:
“And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim” ( Jos 24:33 ).
Death, death, death! The great man dies, and yet the work goes on. The minister ceases, but the ministry proceeds. The individual sermon closes, but the everlasting gospel never ceases its sweet and redeeming proclamations. Book after book is finished, but literature itself is hardly begun. Amidst all mutation there remains one everlasting quantity: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” All the new generations acknowledge it. They come up in great pride and strength, as if they themselves were to outlive God, and behold in a few years their pith is exhausted, their hope dies, and they know themselves to be no better than their fathers. When we are touched by the death of those whom we have known best, and wonder how light can ever shine again upon the circle in which we move, we should give the mind free scope to range over all the noble and marvellous history of the world, so shall we see that how great soever have been the men who have led us, the world could do without them; God knew how to supply their places, and amidst all change and fear and dismay the purpose of Heaven went steadily forward in all the grandeur of its strength and all the tenderness of its beneficence.
In coming thus far in our Bible studies let us pause a moment to consider how many illustrious men with whom we have companied have passed away. Truly the dead are quickly becoming the majority. Adam died, but, though his years were many, how few are the deeds which are recorded of him! He stands in history as the very Gate of Death. “By one man came death.” We feel as if we might say “But for thee, O Adam, all men would now have been alive; no grave would ever have been dug; no farewell would ever have been breathed.” That is an overwhelming reflection. Consider the possibility of Adam himself now entertaining it, or following it out in all its infinite melancholy! Think of him saying “By my sin I ruined God’s fair earth; to me ascribe all iniquity, all shame, all heartbreak; by my presumption and disobedience I did it all: I slew the Son of God; but for me there would have been no Bethlehem, no Gethsemane, no Calvary, no Cross: lay the blame at the right door, O ages of time, ye burdened and groaning centuries, curse my name in all your woe.” On such thoughts we may not dwell, for the mind reels in moral amazement, and the heart cannot quench the passion of scepticism. Enough is known to make us solemn. Count the graves until arithmetic gives up the reckoning in despair. Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, all gone! Just as we had come to know them in the breaking of bread they vanished out of our sight. It was as if rocks had been uprooted, or as if planets had ceased to shine: nay more, for we have not only lost strength and majesty, we have lost guidance, stimulus, friendship, and the subtle ministry of eloquent example. Can history repeat such men? Does our story now lie all down-hill, from steep to steep until we reach the valley of commonplace or the plain of mediocrity? Jesus Christ has taught us how to regard great men, saying “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Here we have at once recognition of greatness and hope of greater history. What if we may know more than Adam, see farther than Enoch, embark in greater adventures than Abram, offer greater sacrifices than the priests, and see a deeper law than was ever revealed to Moses? In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, yea riches unsearchable, promises exceeding great and precious. My soul, bestir thyself, go out in the early morning, remain in the field until the stars come out, for every hour brings its own spoil, every moment its own vision. O my Lord, Father in heaven, Blessed One, made known to me in the Cross of salvation, inspire me, lift me up, and make me gladly accept thy yoke and do all thy bidding; give me the aspiration that is untainted by vanity, and the consecration that is undefiled by selfishness, then shall I be willing to be baptised for the dead, and to stand steadfastly where princes and veterans have fallen by the hand of Time.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXII
CONQUEST OF THE NORTHERN TRIBES; ALLOTMENT OF TERRITORY; ESTABLISHMENT OF A CENTRAL PLACE OF WORSHIP.
Joshua 11-21
This section commences with Joshua II and closes with Jos 21 . That is to say, we must cover in this discussion eleven chapters,, and the matter is of such a nature that one cannot make an oration on it, nor can one give a very interesting discussion on it. It would be perfect folly for me to take up the chapters verse by verse, when all you have to do is to look on your map in the Biblical Atlas and glance at any commentary and get the meaning and locality of each town mentioned. All of the matters that require comment will be commented on in these eleven chapters.
The first theme is the conquest of the tribes in the northern part of the Holy Land, just as the preceding chapter considered the central and southern part of the land. You know I told you that Joshua, by entering the country at Jericho and then capturing Ai, occupied a strategical position, the mountains on the right hand and the left hand and they forced a passway by which he could go in any direction. We found that all the southern part of the country, after the capture at Jericho and Ai, was practically brought about by one decisive battle, the battle of Beth-horon, where the Almighty thundered and sent his hailstones and where the sun stood still. Now, the northern conquest was brought about by one decisive battle, all of the details that it is necessary for me to give are these: When the northern tribes learned of the subjugation of the southern tribes they saw that it was a life and death matter.
From this viewpoint they would be conquered in detail. As Benjamin Franklin said in a speech at the Continental Congress, “Gentlemen, we cannot evade this issue; we must either hang together or hang separately, every one of us if we don’t unite will be hanged.” Now, that was in the minds of those northern kings. We have had the account of Adonizedek, the king of Jebus. Hazor was a well-known place in the history of the countries. We will have it up again in the book of Judges. It was not very far from Caesarea Philippi, where Peter made his great confession in the time of our Lord.
I will not enumerate the tribes and the names of the several kings that were brought into this second league It not only included the central and northern tribes, but they sent an invitation to the remnant of the tribes that had been conquered. The place of rendezvous, or assemblage, for all of these armies of these several kings was Lake Merom. You will recall that in describing the Jordan, rising in the mountains, after running a while, it spreads out into Lake Merom, and lower down it spreads into the Sea of Galilee. Well, now around that Merom Lake the ground is level, very favorable for calvary and war chariots. For the first time the war chariot was introduced. The war chariot was more, in general, the shape of a dray than anything else two wheels, steps behind that one could go down, and one chieftain and two or three captains stood up and drove two or three horses, and they always drove the horses abreast, no matter how many. The men who drove were very skillful but unless they were very lucky they would fall to the ground. In the time of Cyrus the Great, he built one with blades that went out from the sides, so that it not only crippled those he ran over but the scythes on each side would mow them down.
Joshua learned of this combination of tribes and, under the direction of the Almighty, he smote them before they could organize. He was a Stonewall Jackson kind of a man and struck quick and hard. He pressed and pursued them and led his army up the valley of the Jordan by swift marches and instantly attacked the enemy when he got upon the ground and before they were prepared. Their defeat was the most overwhelming in history. All of the leaders were captured and slain; they dispersed in three directions specified in the text, and he pursued them in all three directions. He gave them no time to rally, and when they had been thoroughly discomfited, he took the towns. That battle was practically the end of the war of conquest. We may say the whole thing was decided in this battle; there were some details of conquest later, but this is Joshua’s part of it. I must call attention specifically to this fact, overlooked by many commentaries, that the general statement of the conquest is given in the book of Joshua and the details of some of these general statements are given more elaborately, indeed the last great item, the migration of Dan, in the book of Judges. All that happened before Joshua died. Therefore the book of Judges and the book of Joshua overlap as to time. And for this reason, that as soon as Joshua got through with his conquest, and the distribution of territory, he retired from leadership, living years afterward. The instant the war was over, Joshua surrendered the general leadership.
Just here I wish to answer another question. While the record notes that Joshua conquered all the land that Jehovah had originally promised to those people, yet the book of Joshua also states that there remained certain portions of the land that had not been conquered. The backbone of the opposition was broken by these two battles and by the cities that he captured after these battles, but the enemy would come back and occupy their old position and some of the walled towns were not taken.
I once heard the question asked a Sunday school, Why did God permit the remnants that you will find described later on in this section, the parts not subjugated, to remain? Nobody in the Sunday school could answer. Now, you will find the answer to the question in Num 33:55 ; Jos 23:13 ; Jdg 2:3 . Moses says, “If you do not utterly destroy these people leaving none, then God will permit those remnants that you spare to become thorns in your side, and whenever you are weak they will rise against you; whenever you are disobedient to God they will triumph over you.” It is stated here that the number of the kings of the separate tribes overcome by Joshua was thirty-one Part of this section says that Joshua waged war a long time with these kings. While this battle was fought and became decisive of the general results, the going out and capturing the different towns, completing the different details, required a long time.
Now we come to the next theme of our lesson, viz.: The distribution of the land, or allotment of specific parts of the territory to the tribes. We have already found in the books of Moses just how the eastern side of the Jordan was conquered and the allotment made to Reuben just above Moab, and to Gad just above Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh way up in Gilead. This is on the east side of the Jordan, and the Biblical Atlas will show you at the first glance where they are. So that is the first distribution: Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
The next distribution takes place under the commandment of God. Joshua is old, well stricken in years and wants the land divided while he lives because he knows it will be divided right, and this, too, is the land allotted to Judah and the land allotted to Joseph, or Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh. So we have two and one-half tribes receiving their portion on the west side of the Jordan. That leaves seven tribes who have not yet received their land. In giving Judah his part three interesting events occurred, all of which were in connection with Caleb. Caleb is one of the original twelve men sent out by Moses to spy out the land, and because of his fidelity God promised that he should have Hebron, Abraham’s old home, which is not far from the Dead Sea. It has always been a noted place and is yet. Before this division took place, Caleb presented himself and asked for the fulfilment of the promise by Moses, that his particular part should be Hebron and when that was done, Caleb’s daughter, Achsah, steps forward and asks of her father springs of water, and he gave her the upper and nether springs.
The third fact is related at length in Judges, but it occurs at this time. Caleb having the certain portion, Kiriathsepher, the enemy of Hebron, he said that whoever should go over into that city first and capture it, he should have his daughter for a wife, and a very brave fellow, a nephew of Caleb, determined to try it and he took that city and got the girl. Now, that was a deed of daring, and like it was in the Middle Ages where a knight went forth and sought adventures that would entitle him to be his lady’s husband. All young fellows feel that they would surmount any difficulty to win a girl. I have felt that way. I felt that way when I was seven years old and about a certain young lady. There isn’t anything too dangerous or too great a sacrifice for a man to make in a case of that kind.
I told you when Judah received his part that Joseph’s tribe received theirs. Now we come to an interesting episode; the tribe of Joseph, and particularly the tribe of Ephraim, was always a tough proposition. You will find that all the way through the Old Testament and even when you come to the New Testament. Ephraim came up and when the allotment was made he said, “We are not satisfied.” Did you ever hear of people who were not satisfied about a division of land? Joshua said, “What is the trouble?” “Well, they said, “we are a big tribe, many men of war, and we are cooped up too much. We cannot go far west for there are the mountains, and then all around are woods.” Now, what did Joshua say to them? He said, “Well, you are indeed a big tribe and you have many men of war; now go up and cut down those woods and expand'” He determined to rest some responsibility upon the tribes after the allotment had been made. It is a fine piece of sarcasm. So Ephraim had to take to the woods.
Now before any other division takes place a very notable event occurred affecting the future history of the nation, and that was the establishment of a central place of worship, finding a home for the tabernacle. The tabernacle was established at Shiloh, and this brings us to another general question. How long did that tabernacle stay at Shiloh? How long did the ark stay, and when it left there, where did it go, and where was the ark finally brought? Trace the history of the ark from Shiloh to where it was set up in the tent, and then I want you to tell what became of the tent and tell how long it stayed there and what became of it. What became of the tabernacle? Some of the most interesting things in history and song are found in the answer to those questions.
I here propound another question. Which tribe had no inheritance, no section of the country allotted to it, and why? This tribe that had no particular section allotted to it was scattered over the whole nation and that leads to the next question that you are to answer. Where do you find the prophecy in the Pentateuch, in which book, and where, that this tribe and another one, Simeon, should be scattered over Israel? Where does Moses prophesy just what comes to pass? If not Moses, then somebody else, and you are to find out who did and when and where. The next general remark that I have to make is that this section tells us that Dan was shut up in a pretty tight place. Three strong tribes, Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim held them on one side and the Philistines on the other side, but Dan didn’t come to Joshua. Perhaps he thought it but took the question into his own hands. I suppose that he was afraid that as Joshua told Ephraim to go to the woods, he would tell Dan to capture those Philistine cities, and so Dan sent out some spies and found a good place to settle, and the story of the emigration of Dan is told at great length in the book of Judges. Some of it is told in the book of Joshua; that he took Laish and called it Dan and that became its name. So we say, “from Dan to Beersheba.” We will see all about how Dan improved it when we get to the book of Judges. I am showing you that it occurred, but when you get to the book of Judges you will have a detailed account of it.
The next thought in these eleven chapters is that Joshua, having ended his wars, obeyed God with singular fidelity. (I don’t believe I explained that after they came to Shiloh where he set the ark, the other tribes received their portion by lots. Now your map will show you where Shiloh was and Ephraim and Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and all the others. All you have to do is to look on your map and see their location.) He, having finished the wars, asked a small inheritance for himself, a little bit of a place. How that does shine in comparison with the other great conquerors! When they come to the division, they take the lion’s share. Joshua took a very modest little place in his own tribe. His retiring from public life devolved the work upon the tribes themselves, and to their own judgment. He remained in seclusion until he comes out to be considered in the next section.
This leaves for consideration only two other thoughts in the distribution of the territory, and I shall embody these thoughts in questions for you to answer. Look at the six cities of refuge established, three east of the Jordan and three west of the Jordan. You can find them on a good map, and as you look at them on the map, you are struck with the wisdom of their locality when you consider the purpose of these cities of refuge. And now what was the intent of these cities of refuge? A thousand preachers have preached sermons on the cities of refuge Spurgeon has one remarkable sermon. The allusions to them are very frequent, so that every one of you ought to have in your heart and on your brain a clear conception of what is meant by the cities of refuge. I am going to give you a brief answer, but you can work this answer out and make it bigger.
Under the Mosaic law there was no sheriff in cases of homicide, the killing of a man. In our cities the police go after the murderer, and the sheriff in the country, but under the Mosaic law the next of kin was made the “avenger of blood.” If I, living at that day, had been slain, without raising a question as to how it was done, my brother, J. M. Carroll, or my son, B. H. Carroll, Jr., under the law would be the sheriff, and his injunction would be to start as soon as he heard of the killing and to kill the killer on sight. Well, for us in that kind of a sheriff-law this difficulty would arise: Suppose in the assumed case Just now that, while I had been killed, it had been accidental; that we were all out hunting and a man with me accidentally discharged his gun and it killed me. Or suppose that, as Moses described it, two men were chopping and one went to make a big lick with an axe and the axe flew off and hit the other one and killed him, yet that law says that life was a sacred thing. Now, as there are several cases of manslaughter, of innocent men with no purpose to kill them, so there must be a distinction made between accidental homicide and willful murder.
The object of the cities of refuge, distributed as you see over the country, was to provide a place where one who had killed another, not intending to commit murder, might find a place of shelter until the matter could be investigated, and so, just as soon as a man killed another, he turned and commenced running. The avenger of blood, as soon as he heard of it, went after him and it was a race for life and death, to see which could get there first. Therefore the roads were kept in splendid condition, no rocks were left that the man fleeing for his life should stumble and be slain. The rabbis say they would not allow a straw to be left on the road lest they should stumble and fall.
Now, I close with just this question. I told you that one tribe had no inheritance, no lot of land all together and they had to go somewhere. So for that tribe certain cities with their suburbs were set apart. Now, on your map look for the cities of this tribe that had no inheritance.
QUESTIONS
1. Describe the strategical position of Jericho and Ai.
2. By what battle was the south country practically conquered?
3. What decisive battle brought about the northern conquest? Describe it. With whom is Joshua as a general compared?
4. What the connection between the book of Joshua and the book of Judges?
5. How do you harmonize the statements that Joshua conquered all the land that Jehovah had promised them and that there remained certain portions of the land that had not been conquered?
6. Why did God permit the remnants not subjugated to remain in the land? Where in the Pentateuch do you find the answer?
7. Explain the expression, “Joshua waged war a long time with these kings.”
8. Locate the tribes on the east of the Jordan.
9. What the second distribution, and to whom?
10. What 3 interesting events in connection with giving Judah his portion?
11. What complaint was made by Ephraim, and Joshua’s reply?
12. Where was the central place of worship located? How long did the ark stay there? When it left where did it go? Where finally brought? How long did the tent, or tabernacle, stay there? What finally became of it?
13. What tribe had no inheritance & why? Where do you find the prophecy in the Pentateuch that this tribe & Simeon should be scattered over Israel?
14. How does Joshua’s spirit compare with the spirit of the other great conquerors?
15. How did Dan get out of his straits?
16. Name and locate the cities of refuge. What the intent of these cities?
17. Locate the cities of the tribe that had no inheritance.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Jos 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;
Ver. 1. Then came near the heads of the fathers. ] Some are of opinion that the chief of the priests and Levites did here demand their due when they were not thought of, but by great oversight were passed over in the division. But others, for better reason, hold that they came near now in the proper season, because they were to have their cities and inheritances out of the several tribes and portions allotted unto them, which also they had with very good will, and to a very fair proportion. Once amongst us, the statute of Mortmain provided that men should give no more to the church; so liberal were our forefathers to their clergy. But tempora mutantur; these later times have seen the springs of bounty, like Jordan, turned back, which heretofore did run fresh and fast in to the church. How apt are men to dispute God out of his own, and to begrudge his ministers a competent subsistence; to allow the ox nothing but the straw for treading out the grain, and so much straw as themselves please! This is a sure sign of gasping devotion, and of cursed covetousness, as that great apostle coneludeth. 2Co 9:5 The Levites, under the law, had a liberal and honourable maintenance by God’s own appointment. Besides all the rest of their incomes by sacrifices, freewill offerings, &c., here they have their cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for their cattle, and those of due belonging to them by virtue of God’s command, whom only, and not the people, they were to acknowledge for their benefactor. Neither hath he made worse provision for the ministers of the gospel than he did for the priests of the law. See 1Co 9:13-14 . But many have learned of Julian the apostate, to take away ministers’ maintenance, pretending conscience, for that too much living was a burden to them, and a hindrance to their ministry.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 21:1-4
1Then the heads of households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 2They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded through Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle. 3So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these cities with their pasture lands, according to the command of the LORD. 4Then the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, received thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of the Simeonites and from the tribe of Benjamin.
Jos 21:1 the heads of households of the Levites There are going to be forty-eight Levitical cities (cf. Jos 21:41 and Num 35:1-8). There are three major households (sons) of the tribe of Levi (cf. Gen 46:11; Exo 6:16). The first is the Kohathites, found in Jos 21:10-26. The second major group is the Gershonites, found in Jos 21:27-33, the third group is the Merarites, found in Jos 21:34-40.
When discussing Levites in the historical literature of early Israel, there is no distinction made between Levites and priests; both are allowed to serve YHWH and eat from His offerings (cf. Deuteronomy 18). As the years passed, there developed a specialized recognition of the family of Aaron as denoting priests (which was for life and passed on through families).
Joshua the son of Nun The Hebrew word for son is fluid. The Hebrew ben (BDB 119-122) can mean
1. son begotten by a father
2. children (even cousins, e.g., Num 36:11)
3. grandson (e.g., Gen 31:28; Gen 31:55)
4. member of a professional guild
5. ancestor/descendant (genealogies)
6. member of a tribe/nation (e.g., sons of Israel)
7. common people (sons of the land)
8. member of a religion (son of [name of a god]). The Hebrew king, Psalms 2; 2Sa 7:14
9. angels (cf. Gen 6:2; Gen 6:4; Job 2:1)
10. an idiom of characterization (e.g., sons of Belial, sons of the wise, sons of valor)
In this chapter the term is used several times:
1. of an individual – Joshua, the son of Num, Jos 21:1
2. of a tribal/national group – sons of Israel, Jos 21:1; Jos 21:3; Jos 21:8; Jos 21:41
3. of a professional guild (i.e., priests/Levites)
a. sons of Aaron, Jos 21:4; Jos 21:10; Jos 21:13; Jos 21:19
b. sons of Levi, Jos 21:10 (cf. Jos 21:27)
4. of members of individual tribes
a. sons of Judah, Jos 21:9
b. sons of Simeon, Jos 21:9
5. of members of family groups
a. sons of Kohath, Jos 21:5; Jos 21:20; Jos 21:26
b. sons of Gershon, Jos 21:6; Jos 21:27
c. sons of Merari, Jos 21:34
This kind of fluidity makes it impossible to add up the dates of ancestors and come up with a date for creation (i.e., Usshur’s 4004 B.C.). Often, only the significant dates (either of evil or good or some remembered action) are listed. Several generations are often omitted (e.g., the genealogies of Jesus).
Jos 21:2 Shiloh We learn from Jos 18:1 that Joshua had moved the camp and the tabernacle to Shiloh.
Jos 21:3
NASBthese cities with their pasture lands
NKJVthese cities and their common-land
NRSVthe following cities and pasture lands
TEVcertain cities and pasture lands
NJBtowns with their pasture lands
We learn from Num 35:4 that around the walls of the Levitical cities each Levitical family was given land extending a thousand cubits (for cubit, see Special Topic at Jos 3:4). This was apparently to be used for growing crops or to keep a few animals in order to supplement their food supply which was provided by one of the three tithes of the people.
It is not certain how to translate pasture lands (BDB 177). It could simply denote common land or open space (i.e. NKJV). Context seems to denote a special usage for priests/Levites, possibly
1. a place to bury the dead
2. a place to grow a garden
3. a place to raise animals for domestic use
4. a place of separation symbolizing a holy place (i.e., Levitical city/city of refuge)
See note by James Barr in NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 1140
Jos 21:4 the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites The lot is not understood exactly. Some believe that it refers to the Urim and Thummim (see note at Jos 19:51) in the breastplate of the High Priest, while others believe it refers to black or white stones which were cast like dice or drawn from a pouch.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Eleazar the priest. See note on Jos 14:4 I.
children = sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 21
In chapter twenty-one we read,
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites to the Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun ( Jos 21:1 ),
The priests were saying, “Now, look we know that we don’t get any land, but we were promised cities, and that they were to be given cities, and the suburbs of those cities for their farming and all.” Now automatically the cities of refuge were cities that belonged to the Levites. But other cities were also given to them, and these cities are listed through chapter twenty-one. When we get into verse forty-three,
The Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein ( Jos 21:43 ).
Now, the Lord gave it all to them. The thing is they didn’t take it all. The Lord has given us a lot more than we have taken. We haven’t really possessed all that God has given to us. It is an interesting thing that God has given salvation to every man who will take it, but not everybody has taken it. The gifts of God are already given by God. Now it is up to you by faith, to claim it, to take it. The gift of salvation, it is there if you’ll claim it, if you’ll take it. The gift of the Holy Spirit, it is there if you’ll take it and claim it.
So God gave them all of the land that He promised to give to them. Their problem was that they just didn’t take it all,
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 of their enemies before them; for the Lord delivered all of their enemies into their hand. And there failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; it all came to pass ( Jos 21:44-45 ).
So here is a little testimony of the faithfulness of God. Not one good word of God failed. He kept His promises to them completely. God honors His word. God will honor His word. God will not fail to keep His promises, thus all of those good things which God had promised, He fulfilled. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Jacob’s prophecy concerning Simeon and Levi: I will divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel, was fulfilled in the case of Levi in the distribution of the tribe through all the other tribes. What sounded like a curse thus proved to be a blessing. The presence of the Levites everywhere was intended to serve as a perpetual witness to the relation of the nation to God.
This second division of the Book of Joshua dealing with the settlement of the people ends with a statement that Jehovah gave and they possessed the land. His promises to them had been fulfilled. No man had been able to stand before them. Their enemies had been wholly delivered into their hands. Their responsibilities, however, had not been completely fulfilled. Not yet were all their enemies driven out. Not yet had they fully possessed their possessions. As a matter of fact, they never did completely realize the purpose of God in these matters. The failure, however, was wholly due to their own disobedience, and so the record at this point fittingly closes with the declaration of the fidelity of God “There failed not aught of any good thing which Jehovah had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” Failure to possess what God gives is always due to His people and is never the result of His unwillingness or weakness.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
40-45, the Lords Promises Fulfilled
Jos 21:1-3
After the cities of refuge had been provided, those to be set apart for priests and Levites were next allotted, Num 35:1-8. Forty-two cities were set apart in addition to the six cities of refuge. The priests and the Levites were not the sole possessors of those towns, but dwelled in them, receiving freely their dwellings and pasture-lands. The closing verses represent the position of affairs at Joshuas death. So far as Gods promises went, there had been no failure. The chronicler repeatedly affirms that. It is right to distinguish, says Calvin, between the clear, certain and unwavering fidelity of God, and the weakness and the indolence of His people, which cause Gods gifts to slip from their hands.
At the end of life, when we review it from our last halting-place, we shall accept as absolutely true the conclusion of Jos 21:45, and much more; but alas, for our failures to use His gifts to the full!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
We may consider these closing chapters of the book of Joshua as a group, as the matters with which they deal are all so intimately linked together. In chapter 21 we read of the separation of forty-eight cities from among the various tribes of Israel, which were allotted to the Levites. In chapter 22 we get the return of the warriors of the two and a half tribes to the homes which had already been given to them by Moses on the east of the Jordan. In chapters 23 and 24 we listen to Joshua as he seeks solemnly to impress upon the nation, which he had led into the possession of the land, the importance of cleaving closely to the Word of the Lord and not being turned aside through following any of the customs of the surrounding nations.
The Levites, as we know, were not to be numbered among the people of Israel; therefore they did not inherit any special portion of the land of Palestine. They had been chosen by God instead of the firstborn, who were dedicated to Him because of the de- liverance wrought on the Passover night in Egypt and were set apart for special service in connection with the sanctuary and also ministering and teaching the Word of God among the people. The Lord Himself was their portion and their inheritance. So long as the people were obedient to Him, the Levites would be well cared for. In after years, when the nation drifted away from God, the Levites suffered greatly and in many instances were obliged to forsake the special service committed to them in order to care for their fields and vineyards, that they might properly provide for their families and themselves. Of old, Gods people were divided into three classes: priests, Levites, and warriors. The priests were the worshipers and had to do with the way of approach to God. The Levites were the ministers of the Lord, serving, as we have seen, in various capacities. The warriors fought to take possession of the land and to hold it against their enemies in days to come. In the present dispensation of grace, the three groups are combined in each believer. All have been set apart of God as priests, holy and royal, to offer unto God spiritual sacrifices and to make known the riches of His grace to a lost world. All are Levites, whose joy it should be to serve with gladness the One who has redeemed them. All, too, are warriors, responsible to contend earnestly for the faith once for all committed to the saints.
Cities, with their suburbs, were set apart for the possession of the Levites throughout the entire land, taken from the inheritances of the various tribes. Thus it was the privilege of all to share with the servants of the Lord that which He had given them and which they had appropriated in faith. This provision for the Levites was made after the Lord had given Israel all the land which He swear to give unto their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt therein. God had fulfilled his Word to the letter. It was now the responsibility of His people to hold by obedience that which they had inherited.
In chapter 22 (verses 1-6) we learn that these warriors had done their part faithfully. Although they speak of those who prefer to settle down on the borders of the world rather than to enter in and possess in fullness all that God has for them, nevertheless, according to the light which they seemed to have, they were true and faithful to the promise they had given to Moses and so they were now entitled to return to Bashan and Gilead and adjoining districts east of the Jordan to settle down with their families and care for their flocks and herds.
On their way to their homes an incident occurred which is very suggestive and might well be kept in mind by us today-we who are so apt to misunderstand one anothers motives and to judge each other wrongly because we do not know what is going on in the heart. It is against this that our Lord warns us when He says, Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.
In Joshua 22, verse 10 we read:
And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to.
When word got abroad regarding the building of this altar, those who had their inheritances west of the Jordan immediately jumped at the conclusion that their brethren were setting up some separate kind of worship and so were making a breach in Israel. Without sending messengers to make proper inquiry, word was sent to all the nine and one-half tribes that a rebellion against the Word of the Lord had begun and they were summoned together to quell it. Led by that devoted man Phineas, the son of Eleazar the priest, they charged their brethren with trespass against the Lord, and reminding them how judgment had fallen upon them because of previous iniquities, they warned them of what they might expect if they continued to rebel against God by setting up some other center of worship than that which He had already established at Shiloh. But when thus charged by their excited brethren, the two and one-half tribes, through their leader, made it clear that they had no such thought whatever.
On the other hand, the altar they had built was in order to remind their children and the children of the nine and one-half tribes that they were one nation and that together they worshiped the one true and living God. When the facts of the case came out clearly, Phineas and the host following him were sat- isfied, and they thanked God that division was averted. The altar that the children of Reuben and of Gad had built was simply a replica of that which was set up at the tabernacle and was designed to keep in mind the unity of the nation rather than to foment division. Thus what might have been a very serious breach between brethren was avoided. How often through the centuries have Christians attacked one another and separated one from another on even less provocation, simply because they acted in haste and did not take time to acquaint themselves with one anothers motives!
As we turn to chapter 23 we read:
And it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age: And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord your God is He that hath fought for you.
Joshua then went on to remind them how he had divided the land by lot among them and how the Lord their God had expelled their enemies in the past. If they continued to walk in obedience He could be depended on to drive out those that remained, in order that Israel might possess the land in peace and quietness, even as God had promised them. It was for them to be courageous and obedient and to seek to walk in all the commandments of the Lord, as set forth in the law of Moses. Then they could depend upon God to keep His Word and act on their behalf. If, on the other hand, they failed in this and did not cleave to the Lord their God, but turned from His law to walk in the ways of the nations surrounding Palestine or of the remnant of those remaining in the land, then their own God would turn against them and they would learn in bitterness of soul the folly of disobedience to His truth.
And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until He have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which He hath given unto you.
Following this, Joshua now an aged man, gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem to give them his last charge. He reminded them how God had called Abraham from Mesopotamia and set him apart, that through him all nations of the world might be blessed. It is evident from chapter 24, verse 2 that Abraham himself had been brought up in idolatry and belonged to an idolatrous family at the time that God revealed Himself to him. Joshua said,
Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood [that is, of the river Euphrates], even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.
Abraham was not called out from the nations because he was inherently different from other people, but God in His sovereignty chose him from an idolatrous family and revealed Himself to him. They were His children. They knew how wonderfully the Lord had fulfilled His word to their fathers, and now they were responsible to yield implicit obedience to His word. Joshua recited briefly an account of Gods dealings with them under Moses in Egypt and in the wilderness, and then reminded them of recent events after they entered into the land. Everything Jehovah had promised was fulfilled. He had given them the land for which they had not labored and cities which they did not build. In these they dwelt securely with the vineyards and the olive yards which they had not planted but of which they ate. They were responsible, therefore, to fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which their fathers had served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and to serve the Lord alone (verse 14).
This is very illuminating and shows us that even in Egypt idolatry had a hold on some in Israel, even as we know was true in the wilderness, and now that they were settled in the land there were still idols to be brought out into the light and destroyed. So long as anything is given the place in our hearts that belongs to God Himself, there can never be the fullness of blessing that He would have us enjoy.
Joshuas own steadfast purpose is emphasized in verse 15. After calling upon Israel to choose at once whom they would serve, whether Baal or Jehovah, he declares,
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
For the doughty old warrior who had seen so much of the mighty acts of the one true and living God there could be no thought of any other god. Nor would he allow for one moment that those subject to his headship in the family relation should take any other course. Jehovah was his God and the God of his household. His was an unflinching and unquestioning loyalty to the Holy One of Israel whom he had served for so long.
Responding to Joshuas words, we are told in verses 16 to 18:
And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; For the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the Lord; for He is our God.
All this sounded very good and no doubt at the moment those who made such protestations of loyalty to Joshua meant every word they uttered. But time was to prove how untrustworthy the human heart is. Joshua realized it and warned the people accordingly, as we read in verses 19 and 20:
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for He is an holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that He hath done you good.
However, the people replied, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. And God called Joshua to witness against them that they had thus confirmed their devotion to Him. Again the command came (verse 23):
Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.
The people protested their full intention to be obedient. So we are told,
Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which He spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.
After such solemn adjuration the people departed to their homes.
The death of Joshua followed shortly after and he was buried in the borders of his inheritance in Timnath-serah.
In verse 31 we learn that Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders which overlived Joshua and which had known all the works of the Lord that He had done for Israel. The history that follows in later books tells us how terribly the people failed to carry out their part of the covenant which the fathers had made.
One thing remains to be noticed ere we close our present study of this book. We read in verse 32:
And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
Before Joseph died, by faith he gave commandment concerning his bones, exhorting his brethren not to allow his embalmed body to remain in the land of Egypt, but to carry it with them to Canaan and bury it there. So when Moses led the people out of Egypt, we are told he took the bones of Joseph with him. All through the forty years in the wilderness when they were bearing about in the body the dying of Joseph, the memorial of death, the death of the one who had been used of God for their deliverance, who might be described as their saviour, was with them. Now that all had been fulfilled and they were settled in the land, they buried the bones of Joseph in the parcel of ground which he himself had indicated.
May we not learn from this the importance of always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in us until that day when, the wilderness journey ended, we shall enter into our final rest in the Paradise of God above.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
8. The Portion of the Levites
CHAPTER 21
1. The Levites, the children of Aaron, and their portions (Jos 21:1-8)
2. Kohath (Jos 21:9-26)
3. Gershon (Jos 21:27-33)
4. Merari (Jos 21:34-40)
5. The Lords faithfulness (Jos 21:41-45)
In chapters 13:14, 33 and 14:3, 4 the statement is made that Moses gave no inheritance to the Levites. The Lord was their inheritance. After the tribes had received their allotments the heads of the fathers of the Levites came to Joshua and Eleazar with a petition. They based their petition upon the Word of God spoken to Moses. Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them (Num 35:2). The people were obedient and gave them cities out of their several inheritances. But the cities were also assigned by lot, so that the Lord assigned them their habitations. How it must have pleased Him to see His Word remembered, obeyed and acted upon! They were scattered throughout the entire domain of Israel. The Kohathites and the children of Aaron had thirteen cities in the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Simeon, and two more in Ephraim, Dan and Manasseh. The Gershonites were placed in cities in eastern Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Naphtali. The Merarites were in Zebulun and among Gad and Reuben. The divine purpose in scattering them over the land was, no doubt, that they might exercise a beneficent influence in divine things to exhort the tribes to worship Jehovah, to remind them of His goodness and to restrain them from idolatry. At the close of this chapter we read of the faithfulness of the Lord. He gave them the land; He gave them rest; He gave them victory. There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken. All Gods promises will be in due time accomplished.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
the heads: Jos 19:51, Exo 6:14, Exo 6:25
Eleazar: Jos 14:1, Jos 17:4, Num 34:17-29
Reciprocal: Gen 47:22 – for the priests Gen 49:7 – I will divide Lev 25:32 – the cities Num 3:17 – General Neh 11:36 – And of Eze 48:10 – for the priests
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 21:1-42 tells the cities that were given to the Levites so they would have a place to keep their cattle (compare Num 35:1-8 ). Verses 43-45 tell us God gave Israel all the land he had promised to the fathers ( Gen 12:7 ; Gen 15:18 ). He gave them rest and no enemy was able to stand against them. In fact, their enemies had been given into their hands and they could easily have driven the rest out if they had have been so minded. So, God kept every part of his promise, though Israel did not take advantage of it through simple obedience ( Exo 33:14 ; Deu 12:9-10 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Jos 21:1. The heads of the fathers of the Levites The fathers of the Levites were Kohath, Gershon, and Merari; and the heads of these were the chief persons now alive of these several families. Thus, the princes of the several tribes, who divided the land in conjunction with Joshua, are called, at the conclusion of this verse and elsewhere, the heads of the fathers of the tribes. The whole land being distributed to the several tribes, but not yet actually possessed by them, and this being the proper season for their making such a claim, these principal Levites now come to the princes of the tribes, and remind them of the command of God respecting the cities to be assigned them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jos 21:2. Suburbsfor our cattle. The levites sharing the tithe of corn, only needed cattle, which were tithed as well as the corn; but they were either burnt on the altar, or consumed in feasts before the Lord, the worshippers participating. See on Deu 26:12.The suburbs contained a square of two thousand cubits. Numbers 35.
Jos 21:3. At the commandment of the Lord: the forty eight cities were given to the priests and levites out of their inheritance. The care of religion should be the first care of the magistrate, as it is the first care of heaven. The priests needed but small cities, and the fathers of the levites had to urge their claim, for laymen are too often tardy and reluctant in the support of the sanctuary. The distribution of those cities was such as enabled the levite to instruct the people with every local advantage, and to influence their morals by example.
Jos 21:41. Forty and eight cities. Many of those cities were but small; yet as the average population was not more than five hundred persons to a town, Levi was well provided for.
REFLECTIONS.
We cannot but be struck with the wisdom and goodness of God in selecting the levites for his service, and in scattering them among all the tribes for the purposes of literary and religious instruction. These men, whose sole business it was to devote themselves to the acquisition of knowledge and piety; and enjoying the high advantage of conversing with the strangers who might resort to the sanctuary of God for devotion, they would improve their minds with the literature of the east, and become at least as well qualified as any others of their age for academical and domestic tutors. Hence we see that God would not have his people remain in ignorance. He would have his laws expounded by men qualified to instruct the nation, that others might pay an enlightened homage to their Maker.
From the liberal provision here made for the priests and levites, ministers in particular ought to learn that God would not have them to be idle. The instruction of children, the illumination of the people, and the suppression of vice, should occupy the whole of their life. Men so peculiarly called the servants of God, should in every view imitate Christ their great Highpriest, and walk worthy of their high vocation. An ignorant, an idle, or a wicked minister is a brand to the christian name; and a punishment awaits him in the life to come, correspondent to his crimes on earth.
We see in the lot of the priests, which fell among the three nearest tribes to the sanctuary, Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon, a gracious providence, that they might reside near the place where they would in their courses be so often wanted. Indeed it is all providence: no sooner do we begin to contemplate the ways of God, than grace and astonishment present themselves in every object. What cause has Zion to rejoice in her king. And abiding in his covenant, she shall never be moved.
The Lord not only gave them rest in the land, but so fulfilled his word that there failed not any good thing which the Lord had promised. So it shall be to his people, on reaching the heavenly Canaan.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jos 21:1-42. The Levitical Cities.The cities promised by Moses to the Levites are here assigned to them. The sons of Aaron have 13 in Judah, the Levites 10 in Ephraim and Manasseh, 13 in Galilee, and 12 in the E. Jordan territory. Both promises and performance are unhistorical. The simple fact that the descendants of Aaron could at this time have numbered only a few families shows the assignment of 13 cities to them to be purely imaginary. For the true history of the priesthood, reference must be made to the Introduction to the Pentateuch.
Jos 21:11 is an interesting piece of harmonising. The conquest and possession of the city of Hebron by Caleb was so prominent in the old tradition that the assignment of it to the Priests had to be explained. The fields and villages are therefore said to have been assigned to Caleb, while the city and the suburbs go to the Priests.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
CITIES GIVEN TO THE LEVITES
(vs.1-42)
Since the Levites were not given a tribal inheritance as were the other tribes, it was necessary that they should have cities among all the tribes Their representatives therefore came to Eleazar and Joshua (v.1) to remind them that the Lord had promised through Moses to give them such cities, both for themselves and for their livestock (v.2).
These cities were then given by lot to the Levites, beginning with the families of the Kohathites. Aaron was from that family, and his family (the priests) were given thirteen cities by lot, from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. This was appropriate, for Jerusalem (God’s center)was on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, and Simeon was included in Judah. Thus the priests would be near to God’s sanctuary, to do service there. The priests were (typically) the worshipers, so that in the service of God they came first. The rest of the Kohathites were given ten cities by lot in Ephraim, Dan and Manasseh. Kohath means “obedient,” and stands for the objective ministry of the Word of God that is itself fully subject to that Word. Their service was connected with those things that speak directly of Christ, caring for the furnishings of the tabernacle (Num 4:4-15), so that Kohath’s ministry would involve the blessedness of the position that all believers have ‘in Christ.” We may be sure that all the cities allotted to them had some spiritual significance consistent with the character of their work.
The children of Gershon were given thirteen cities by lot from Issachar, Asher and Naphtali and the half tribe of Manasseh east of Jordan (v.6). Gershom means “a stranger there,” speaking of that service for God that does not settle down in the world, but serves God without selfish, material motives. Gershom’s service was connected with the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, the hangings for the door and for the court. Thus the spiritual significance of Gershom’s service is that of encouraging a godly walk through a world in which we are strangers, a walk that honors God, though the world does not understand.
The children of Merari received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulon, with surrounding lands (vs.7-8). The service of Merari involved caring for the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, pillars and sockets, pegs and cords with all their furnishings (Num 4:29-32). The boards speak of believers joined together by bars and sockets, and the pillars, of believers holding up hangings, etc. All of this indicates not only the walk of believers personally through the world, but of their united testimony as joined together by the power of the Spirit of God.
GOD’S PROMISE FULFILLED
(vs.43-45)
With all the tribes being given their place in the land, it is now emphasized that what God had promised He had fulfilled to Israel, so that they took possession of the land, dwelling in it (v.43). He gave them rest all around, so that not a man of all their enemies was able to resist their taking the land (v.44). God had done all that He had promised.
This is true for believers today. The book of Acts gives us the history of God’s establishing the Church of God in separation from the world, though in it, giving us a heavenly inheritance as clearly taught in the epistles. God on His part had done everything for our blessing. But just as Israel failed in their response to God’s faithfulness, so has the Church failed to manifest a true response to God’s grace in acting upon the truth of what they have been given and what we are “in Christ.”
Yet it is good for us to get back to the sublime pronouncement, “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (v.45). Thank God we may rest on His faithfulness, though all else may fail.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
2. The cities of the Levites 21:1-42
The tribes also had to set aside 42 additional cities for the priests and Levites to inhabit (cf. Num 35:1-8).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The casting of lots 21:1-8
Probably the leaders identified the towns first and then assigned the various groups of Levites to particular cities by lot (Jos 21:3-4). The priests (Aaron’s descendants) received 13 cities within the tribal territories of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin (Jos 21:4). The rest of the Kohathites-Aaron was a descendant of Kohath-obtained 10 cities in Ephraim, Dan, and western Manasseh (Jos 21:5). The Gershonites lived in 13 cities in Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and eastern Manasseh (Jos 21:6). The Merarites inherited 12 cities in Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun (Jos 21:7). The names of these Levitical towns appear in the following verses (Jos 21:9-40).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE INHERITANCE OF THE LEVITES.
Jos 21:1-42.
ONCE and again we have found reference made to the fact that Levites received no territorial inheritance among their brethren (Jos 13:14, Jos 13:33; Jos 14:3-4). They had a higher privilege: the Lord was their inheritance. In the present chapter we have an elaborate account of the arrangements for their settlement; it will therefore be suitable here to rehearse their history, and ascertain the relation they now stood in to the rest of the tribes.
In the days of the patriarchs and during the sojourn in Egypt there were no official priests. Each head of a house discharged the duties of the priesthood in patriarchal times, and a similar arrangement prevailed during the residence in Egypt. The whole nation was holy; in this sense it was a nation of priests; all were set apart for the service of God. By-and-by it pleased God to select a portion of the nation specially for His service, to establish, as it were, a holy of holies within the consecrated nation. The first intimation of this was given on that awful occasion when the firstborn of the Egyptians was slain. In token of His mercy in sparing Israel on that night, all the firstborn of Israel, both of man and beast, were specially consecrated to the Lord. The animals were to be offered in sacrifice, except in the case of some, such as the ass, not suited for sacrifice; these were to be redeemed by the sacrifice of another animal. Afterwards a similar arrangement was made with reference to the firstborn of men, the tribe of Levi being substituted for them (see Num 3:12). But this arrangement was not made till after the tribe of Levi had shown, by a special act of service, that they were fitted for this honour.
Certainly we should not have thought beforehand that the descendants of Levi would be the specially sacred tribe. Levi himself comes before us in the patriarchal history in no attractive light. He and Simeon were associated together in that massacre of the Shechemites, which we can never read of without horror (Gen 34:25). Levi was likewise an accomplice with his brethren in the lamentable tragedy of Joseph. And as nothing better is recorded of him, we are apt to think of him as through life the same. But this were hardly fair. Why should not Levi have shared in that softening influence which undoubtedly came on the other brethren? Why may he not have become a true man of God, and transmitted to his tribe the memory and the example of a holy character? Certain it is that we find among his descendants in Egypt some very noble specimens of godliness. The mother of Moses, a daughter of the house of Levi, is a woman of incomparable faith. Moses, her son, is emphatically “the man of God.” Aaron, his brother, moved by a Divine influence, goes to the wilderness to find him when the very crisis of oppression seems to indicate that God’s time for the deliverance of Israel is drawing nigh. Miriam, his sister, though far from faultless, piously watched his bulrush-cradle, and afterwards led the choir whose praises rose to God in a great volume of thanksgiving after crossing the sea.
The first honour conferred on Levi in connection with religious service was the appointment of Aaron and his sons to the special service of the priesthood (Exo 28:1-43; Num 18:1). This did not necessarily involve any spiritual distinction for the whole tribe of which Aaron was a member, nor was that distinction conferred at that time. It was after the affair of the golden calf that the tribe of Levi received this honour. For when Moses, in his holy zeal against that scandal, called upon all who were on the Lord’s side to come to him, ”all the sons of Levi gathered themselves unto him” (Exo 32:26). This seems to imply that that tribe alone held itself aloof from the atrocious idolatry into which even Aaron had been drawn. And apparently it was in connection with this high act of service that Levi was selected as the sacred tribe, and in due time formally substituted for the firstborn in every family (Num 3:12, sqq. Num 8:6 sqq. Num 18:2 sqq.) From this time the tribe of Levi stood to God in a relation of peculiar honour and sacredness, and had duties assigned to them in harmony with this eminent position.
The tribe of Levi consisted of three main branches, corresponding to Levi’s three sons – Kohath, Gershon, and Merari. The Kohathites, though apparently not the oldest (see Num 3:17) were the most distinguished, Moses and Aaron being of that branch. As Levites, the Kohathites had charge of the ark and its sacred furniture, guarding it at all times, and carrying it from place to place during the journeys of the wilderness. The Gershonites had charge of the tabernacle, with its cords, curtains, and coverings. The sons of Merari had charge of the more solid parts of the tabernacle, “its boards and bars, its pillars and its pins, and all the vessels thereof.” Korah, the leader of the rebellion against Moses and Aaron, was, like them, of the family of Kohath, and the object of his rebellion was to punish what he considered the presumption of the two brothers in giving to Aaron the special honours of a priesthood which, in former days, had belonged alike to all the congregation (Num 16:3). We are accustomed to think that the supernatural proofs of the Divine commission to Moses were so overwhelming that it would have been out of the question for any man to challenge them. But many things show that, though we might have thought opposition to Moses impossible, it prevailed to a great extent. The making of the golden calf, the report of the spies and the commotion that followed, the rebellion of Korah, and many other things, prove that the prevalent spirit was usually that of unbelief and rebellion, and that it was only after many signal miracles and signal judgments that Moses was enabled at last to exercise an unchallenged authority. The rationalist idea, that it was enthusiasm for Moses that led the people to follow him out of Egypt, and endure all the hardships of the wilderness, and that there is nothing more in the Exodus than the story of an Eastern nation leaving one country under a trusted leader to settle in another, is one to which the whole tenor of the history offers unqualified contradiction. And not the least valid ground of opposition is the bitter, deadly spirit in which attempts to frustrate Moses were so often made.
Many of the duties of the Levites as detailed in the Pentateuch were duties for the wilderness. After the settlement in Canaan, and the establishment of the tabernacle at Shiloh, these duties would undergo a change. The Levites were not all needed to be about the tabernacle. The Gibeonites indeed had been retained as ”hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord,” so that the more laborious part of the work at Shiloh would be done by them. If the Levites had clustered like a swarm of bees around the sacred establishment, loss would have been sustained alike by themselves and by the people. It was desirable, in accordance with the great law of distribution already referred to, that they should be dispersed over the whole country. The men that stood nearest to God, and who were a standing testimony to the superiority of the spiritual over the secular, who were Divine witnesses, indeed, to the higher part of man’s nature, as well as to God’s preeminent claims, must have failed egregiously of their mission had they been confined to a single city or to the territory of a single tribe. Jacob had foretold both of Simeon and Levi that they would be “divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel.” In the case of Levi, the scattering was overruled for good. Designed to point God-wards and heavenwards, the mission of Levi was to remind the people over the whole country that they were not mere earth-worms, created to grub and burrow in the ground, but beings with a nobler destiny, whose highest honour it was to be in communion with God.
The functions of the Levites throughout the country seem to have differed somewhat in successive periods of their history. Here, as in other matters, there was doubtless some development, according as new wants appeared in the spiritual condition of the people, and consequently new obligations for the Levites to fulfil.
When the people fell under special temptations to idolatry, it would naturally fall to the Levites, in connection with the priesthood, to warn them against these temptations, and strive to keep them faithful to their God. But it does not appear that even the Levites could be trusted to continue faithful. It is a sad and singular fact that a grandson of Moses was one of the first to go astray. The Authorized Version, indeed, says that the young man who became a priest to the Danites when they set up a graven image in the city of Dan, was Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh (Jdg 18:30). But the Revised Version, not without authority, calls him Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses. Here we have a glimpse of two remarkable facts: in the first place, that a grandson of Moses, a Levite, was located in so confined a place that he had to leave it in search of another, ”to sojourn where he could find a place” – so entirely had Moses abstained from steps to secure superior provision for his own family; and, in the second place, that even with his remarkable advantages and relations, this Jonathan, in defiance of the law, was tempted to assume an office of priesthood, and to discharge that office at the shrine of a graven image. We are far indeed from the truth when we suppose that the whole nation of Israel submitted to the law of Moses from the beginning with absolute loyalty, or when we accept the prevalent practice among them at any one period as undoubted evidence of what was then the law.
But let us now turn our attention to the distribution of the Levites as it was planned. We say deliberately “as it was planned,” because there is every reason to believe that the plan was not effectually carried out. In no case does there seem to have been such a failure of official arrangements as in the case of Levi. And the reason is not difficult to find. Few of the cities allotted to them were free of Canaanites at the time. To get actual possession of the cities they must have dispossessed the remaining Canaanites. But, scattered as they were, this was peculiarly difficult. And the other tribes seem to have been in no humour to help them. Hence it is that in the early period of the Judges we find Levites wandering here and there seeking for a settlement, and glad of any occupation they could find (Jdg 18:7; Jdg 19:1).
The provision made by Joshua for the Levites was that out of all the other tribes, forty-eight cities with their suburbs, including the six cities of refuge, were allotted to them. It is necessary for us here to call to mind how much Canaan, like other Eastern countries and some countries not Eastern, was a land of towns and villages. Cottages and country-houses standing by themselves were hardly known. A house in its own grounds – “a lodge in a garden of cucumbers ” – might shelter a man for a time, but could not be his permanent home. The country was too liable to hostile raids for its inhabitants to dwell thus unprotected. Most of the people had their homes in the towns and villages with which their fields were connected. In consequence of this each town had a circuit of land around it, which always fell to the conquerors when the town was taken. And it is this fact that sometimes makes the boundaries of the tribes so difficult to follow, because these boundaries had to embrace all the lands connected with the cities which they embraced. If it be asked, Did the Levites receive as part of their inheritance all the lands adjacent to their cities, the answer is, No. For in that case the only difference between them and the other tribes would have been that the Levites had forty-eight little territories instead of one large possession, and there would have been no ground for the distinction so emphatically made that “the Lord was their inheritance,” or ”the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire.”
The cities given to the Levites, even when cleared of Canaanites, were not possessed by Levites alone. We may gather the normal state of affairs from what is said regarding Hebron and Caleb. Hebron was a Levitical city, a city of the priests, a city of refuge; they gave to the Kohathites the city, with the suburbs thereof roundabout; “but the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession ” (Jos 21:11-12). What are called “suburbs,” or, as some prefer to render, “cattle drives,” extended for two thousand cubits round about the city on every side (Num 35:5), and were used only for pasture. It behooved the Levites to have cattle of some kind to supply them with their food, the main part of which, besides fruit, was milk and its produce. But, beyond this, the Levites were not entangled with the business of husbandry. They were left free for more spiritual service. It was their part to raise the souls of the people above the level of earth, and, like the angel in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” call on those who might otherwise have worshipped the mud-rake to lift up their eyes to the crown of glory, and accept the heavenly gift.
In fact, the whole function of the Levites, ideally at least, was as Moses sung: –
“And of Levi he said, Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with thy godly one, Whom thou didst prove at Massah,
With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him;
Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,
Nor knew his own children:
For they have observed Thy word,
And kept Thy covenant.
They shall teach Jacob Thy judgments,
And Israel Thy law:
They shall put incense before Thee,
And whole burnt offering upon Thine altar.
Bless, Lord, his substance,
And accept the work of his hands:
Smite through the loins of them that rise up against him,
And of them that hate him, that they rise not again.”
Deu 33:8-11 (R.V.).
But to come now to the division itself. The Kohathites, or leading family, had no fewer than thirteen cities in the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon, and ten more in Ephraim, Dan, and Manasseh. The thirteen in Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon were for the priests; the other ten were for the other branches of the Kohathites. At first the priests, strictly so called, could not occupy them all. But, as the history advances, the priests become more and more prominent, while the Levites as such seem to hold a less and less conspicuous place. In the Psalms, for example, we sometimes find the house of Levi left out when all classes of worshippers are called on to praise the Lord. In the 135th Psalm all are included: –
“O house of Israel, bless ye the Lord: O house of Aaron, bless ye the Lord: O house of Levi, bless ye the Lord: Ye that fear the Lord, bless ye the Lord.”
But in the 15th the Levites are left out: –
“O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust ye in the Lord: He is their help and their shield.
Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: He is their help and their shield.”
And in the 18th: –
“Let Israel now say That His mercy endureth for ever. Let the house of Aaron now say That His mercy endureth for ever. Let them now that fear the Lord say That His mercy endureth for ever.”
There is this to be said for the region where the priests, the house of Aaron, had their cities, viz., the tribe of Judah, that it maintained its integrity longest of any; nor did it thoroughly succumb to idolatry till the dark days of Manasseh, one of its later kings. But, on the other hand, in New Testament times, Judaea was the most bigoted part of the country, and the most bitterly opposed to our Lord. And the explanation is, that the true spirit of Divine service had utterly evaporated from among the priesthood, and the miserable spirit of formalism had come in. The living sap of the institution had been turned into stone, and the plant of renown of early days had become a stony fossil. So true is it that the best institutions, when perverted from their true end, become the sources of greatest evil, and the highest gifts of heaven, when seized by the devil and turned to his purposes, become the most efficient instruments of hell.
The other portions of the family of Kohath were distributed in ten cities over the central part of Western Palestine. Some of them were important centres of influence, such as Bethhoron, Shechem, and Taanach. But the influence of the Levites for good seems to have been feeble in this region, for it was here that Jeroboam reigned, and here that Ahab and Jezebel all but obliterated the worship of Jehovah.
It is commonly believed that Samuel was a member of the tribe of Levi, although there is some confusion in the genealogy as given in 1Ch 6:28; 1Ch 6:34; yet Ramathaim Zophim, his father’s place of abode, was not one of the Levitical cities. And Samuel’s influence was exerted more on the southern than the central district; for, after the destruction of Shiloh, Mizpeh appears to have been his ordinary residence (1Sa 7:6), and afterwards Ramah (1Sa 7:17). It would indeed be a pleasant thought that the inefficiency of the Kohathites as a whole was in some measure redeemed by the incomparable service of Samuel. If Samuel was a Levite, he was a noble instance of what may be done by one zealous and consecrated man, amid the all but universal defection of his official brethren.
Ramathaim and Ramah are used interchangeably (1Sa 1:1; 1Sa 1:19; 1Sa 2:11).
The Gershonites were placed in cities in eastern Manasseh, Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali; while the Merarites were in Zebulun, and in the transjordanic tribes of Gad and Reuben. They thus garrisoned the northern and eastern districts. Those placed in the north ought to have been barriers against the gross idolatry of Tyre and Sidon, and those in the east, besides resisting the idolatry of the desert tribes, should have held back that of Damascus and Syria. But there is very little to show that the Levites as a whole rose to the dignity of their mission in these regions, or that they formed a very efficient barrier against the idolatry and corruption which they were designed to meet. No doubt they did much to train the people to the outward observance of the law. They would call them to the celebration of the great annual festivals, and of the new moons and other observances that had to be locally celebrated. They would look after cases of ceremonial defilement, and no doubt they would be careful to enjoin payment of the tithes to which they had a claim. They would do their best to maintain the external distinctions in religion, by which the nation was separated from its neighbours. But, except in rare cases, they do not appear to have been spiritually earnest, nor to have done much of that service which Samuel did in the southern part of the country. Externalism and formalism seem to have been their most frequent characteristics; and externalism and formalism are poor weapons when the enemy cometh in like a flood.
And, whatever may have been the usual life and work of the Levites over the country, they never seem to have realized the glory of the distinction divinely accorded to them – ”The Lord is their inheritance.” Few, indeed, in any age or country have come to know what is meant by having God for their portion. Unbelief can never grasp that there is a life in God – a real life, so full of enjoyment that all other happiness may be dispensed with; a real property, so rich in every blessing, that the goods and chattels of this world are mere shadows in comparison. Yet that there have been men profoundly impressed by these convictions, in all ages and in many lands, amid prevailing ungodliness, cannot be denied. How otherwise is such a life as that of St. Bernard or that of St. Francis to be accounted for? Or that of St. Columba and the missionaries of lona? Or, to go farther back, that of St. Paul? There is a magic virtue, or rather a Divine power, in real consecration. “Them that honour Me, I will honour.” It is the want of such men that makes our churches feeble. It is our mixing up our own interests with the interests of God’s kingdom and refusing to leave self out of view while we profess to give ourselves wholly to God, that explains the slowness of our progress. If the Levites had all been consecrated men, idolatry and its great brood of corruptions would never have spread over the land of Israel. If all Christian ministers were like their Master, Christianity would spread like wildfire, and in a very little time the light of salvation would brighten the globe.
Note. – In this chapter we have accepted the statements of the Pentateuch regarding the Levites as they stand. We readily own that there are difficulties not a few connected with the received view. The modern critical theory that maintains that the Levitical order was a much later institution would no doubt remove many of these difficulties, but only by creating other difficulties far more serious. Besides, the hypothesis of Wellhausen that the tribe of Levi was destroyed with Simeon at the invasion of Canaan – having no foundation to rest on, except the assumption that the prophecy ascribed to Jacob was written at a later date – is ludicrously inadequate to sustain the structure made to rest on it. Nor is it conceivable that, after the captivity, the priests should have been able to make the people believe a totally different account of the history of one of the tribes from that which had previously been received. It is likewise incredible that the Levites should have been “annihilated ” or “extinguished ” in the days of Joshua, without a single allusion in the history to so terrible a fact. How inconsistent with the concern expressed when the tribe of Benjamin was in danger of extinction (Jdg 21:17). The loss of a tribe was like the loss of a limb; it would have marred essentially the symmetry of the nation.