Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 25:32
Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, [and] the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
Rather, And concerning the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, etc. If one of the Levites redeems a house in the city, etc. The meaning appears to be, if a Levite redeemed a house which had been sold to a person of a different tribe by another Levite, it was to revert in the Jubilee to the latter Levite as its original possessor. The purchaser of a Levites house was in fact only in the condition of a tenant at will, while the fields attached to the Levitical cities could never be alienated, even for a time.
For the application of the law of Jubilee to lands dedicated to the service of the sanctuary, see Lev 27:16-25.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 32. The cities of the Levites] The law in this and the following verses was also a very wise one. A Levite could not ultimately sell his house: if sold he could redeem it at any time tn the interim between the two jubilees; but if not redeemed, it must go out at the following jubilee. And why? “Because Moses framed his laws so much in favour of the priesthood, that they had peculiar privileges?” &c. Just the reverse: they were so far from being peculiarly favoured that they had no inheritance in Israel, only their cities, to dwell in: and because their houses in these cities were the whole that they could call their own, therefore these houses could not be ultimately alienated. All that they had to live on besides was from that most precarious source of support, the freewill-offerings of the people, which depended on the prevalence of pure religion in the land.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
32-34. Notwithstanding the cities ofthe Levites, c.The Levites, having no possessions but theirtowns and their houses, the law conferred on them the same privilegesthat were granted to the lands of the other Israelites. A certainportion of the lands surrounding the Levitical cities wasappropriated to them for the pasturage of their cattle and flocks(Num 35:4 Num 35:5).This was a permanent endowment for the support of the ministry andcould not be alienated for any time. The Levites, however, were atliberty to make exchanges among themselves; and a priest might sellhis house, garden, and right of pasture to another priest, but not toan Israelite of another tribe (Jer41:7-9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Notwithstanding, the cities of the Levites,…. The six cities of refuge, and forty two others; these and the houses in them are excepted from the above law, and only they; not such as they might purchase elsewhere; wherefore it follows,
[and] the houses of the cities of their possession; which were in cities possessed by them, and which was their possession, and given them as such:
may the Levites redeem at any time; they were not restrained to a year, as houses in walled towns, but they might redeem them as they pleased or could; and if they did not redeem them within the year, they might redeem them afterwards, even years after, and any time before the year of jubilee; so it is said in the Misnah l the priests and the Levites sell always, and they redeem always, as it is said, Le 25:32; on which one of the commentators says m “they sell always”, not as the Israelites, who cannot sell less than two years before the jubilee; but the Levites can sell near the jubilee: “and they redeem always”; if they sell houses in walled cities, they are not confirmed at the end of the year, as the houses of Israelites; and if they sell fields, it is not necessary they should remain in the hands of the buyer two years, but they may redeem them immediately if they will: this redemption was peculiar to the Levites; for if an Israelite has an inheritance from his father’s mother, a Levite, he might not redeem according to the manner Levites did, but according to Israelites; and so a Levite that inherited from his father’s mother, an Israelite, was obliged to redeem as an Israelite and not as a Levite n; for this perpetual redemption respected only houses that were in the cities of the Levites.
l Eracin, c. 9. sect. 8. m Bartenora in ib. n Misn. Eracin, c. 9. sect. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verses 32-34:
The law provided an exception to the provision for disposition of houses in a walled city, in the case of the tribe of Levi. In the territorial assignment of Israel’s tribes, the tribe of Levi was not assigned a geographical allotment; they were assigned forty-eight cities throughout the territories of the other tribes, Nu 35:2-8; Jos 14:3, 4; 21:1-42. Included in this assignment was the cities’ “suburbs,” migrash, “places for driving out cattle.”
The Levitical cities were treated in the law of redemption as was the territorial grants of the other tribes in Israel. This meant that houses in the walled cities could be redeemed, in the same manner as the fields of their brethren.
The land which belonged to the Levites consisted of a limited acreage surrounding their cities, which provided pasturage for their livestock. This land could be sold, but only to other Levites.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
32. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites. Another exception, that the Levites should recover the houses they had sold, either by the right of redemption, or gratuitously in the year of jubilee. And this is not only appointed out of favor to them, but because it concerned the whole people, that they should be posted like sentries in the place which God had assigned to them. As to the suburbs, or the lands destined for the support of their cattle, God forbids their alienation, because thus they would have forsaken their proper station and removed elsewhere; whereas it was of importance to the whole people that such a dispersion should not occur.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(32) Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses.Better, And as to the cities of the Levites, the houses, that is, the houses which belong to the Levites, in the forty-eight cities given to them (see Num. 35:1-8; Jos. 21:1-3), are to be exempt from this general law of house property.
May the Levites redeem at any time.Having the same value to the Levites as landed property has to the other tribes, these houses are to be subject to the jubile laws for fields, and hence may be redeemed at any time.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. The Levites may redeem Here is the first hint of the mode of maintaining the Levites in cities. This exception to the statute concerning walled cities is grounded on the fact that the Levites, if their houses could be irredeemably sold, might become utterly homeless, since they had no landed inheritance, but only city houses. Jehovah is not honored by a mendicant ministry.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Houses In The Cities Of The Levites Are Redeemable At Any Time ( Lev 25:32-34 ).
This special provision for Levites was because they did not have fields of their own. Their houses were their possession. God was their inheritance.
Lev 25:32
“Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.”
In the cities of the Levites (including the priests) the houses were given to them by God as a possession. They had no fields which were their personal possession. Thus their houses were treated as their inheritance in the land and were permanently redeemable or returned to the original owner in the year of Yubile. These cities included the six cities of refuge, and the forty two others to be allocated to the Levites (Num 35:1-8; see Joshua 20-21). The six represented twice three (three on each side of Jordan) which indicated completeness. The remainder were six times seven, completeness with divine perfection.
Lev 25:33
“And if one of the Levites redeem, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the yubile; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.”
The general intent of this verse is clear although the detail is a little problematic. The important point is that each property in a Levite city returned in the year of Yubile (‘goes out’) to its original Levite owner, and the whole city therefore returned to its combined Levite owners, because being Levites this was their permanent possession in the land.
AV translates ‘if a man purchase of the Levites’, (i.e. a non-Levite buying Levite property) but this is probably not right as the same verb is unquestionably used in context above to mean ‘redeem’, and the root is g’l (redeem, redeemer). Thus we must translate ‘redeem’ and understand accordingly. It may refer to a Levite redeeming the property on behalf of another Levite or the Levites in general redeeming property in their city which a poor Levite had had to sell. If so it could not be kept beyond the year of Yubile. It returned to its original Levite owner. As indeed the whole city returned to its Levite owners.
Lev 25:34
“But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.”
However, Levite fields surrounding the city could not be sold. They belonged to the Levites as a whole. They were their permanent possession.
Those who through dedication to God lose what is looked on as normal to men can be sure that God will watch over their needs and especially provide for them. In the words of Jesus, ‘Every one who has left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life’ (Mat 19:29).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 25:32. Notwithstanding, the cities of the Levites, &c. The Levites’ city-houses are exempted from the general law respecting houses in cities; the reason for which is given in the 33rd verse, For the houses of the cities, &c. The body of the Levites being a standing and perpetual body, they could not absolutely alienate their houses or lands. See Num 18:21; Num 35:2. Deu 18:2.
Note; We are taught here, in the near kinsman and redeemer, to behold Jesus, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, who, when we had sold all, and were become incapable of recovering our inheritance, paid down the purchase, and restored the lost title.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 25:32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, [and] the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
Ver. 32. May the Levites redeem at any time. ] They were ever counted privileged persons: and it was but reason. See Lev 25:33-34 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the cities of the Levites. Compare the forty-eight cities, Num 35:1-8. Jos 21:1-8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the cities: As the Levites had no inheritance in Israel, but only cities to dwell in; and consequently the houses in these cities were all they could call their own, therefore they could not be ultimately alienated. Num 35:2-8, Jos 21:1-45