Joshua 21:5

And the rest of the children of Kohath,.... Which did not descend from him in the line of Amram and Aaron, but of Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, who were not priests, but Levites: [had] by lot out of the

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. No JFB commentary on these verses.

The children of Kohath were of Aaron’ s family, or priests, but Levites only. These tribes are nearest to the three former, and so the Kohathites are placed next to their brethren the Aaronites. Ten cities; fewer than they gave out for the three former tribes, because their inheritance was less than the former. See .

Joshua 21:5 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.Ver. 5. And the rest of the children of Kohath.] Thus the Levites were dispersed throughout the land - as salt is sprinkled upon meat, to keep it from putrifying; "ye are the salt of the earth" - for instruction of the people; and herein that malediction, Genesis 49:7, was turned into a benediction. It were happy if every congregation had an able minister. To many churches here at the first Reformation, for want of preachers, readers were sent; whence one of the martyrs wished that every able minister might have ten congregations committed to his charge till further provision could be made.

(4-8) The order of the distribution—viz., (1) to priests, (2) to Kohathites, (3) to Gershonites, (4) to Merarites—is in strict agreement with the order of priority observed in the exodus. In the camp of Israel there were two squares surrounding the tabernacle: an inner square of priests and Levites, an outer square of the tribes of Israel, three on each side. The inner square was arranged thus:—The priests, with Moses and Aaron, on the east, by the entrance of the tabernacle; the Kohathites on the south, the Gershonites on the west, and the Merarites on the north. On the march the priests were the chief officers of this portion of the army. The Kohathites carried the sacred vessels, the Gershonites the curtains and various fabrics of the tent and tabernacle, and the Merarites the bars and boards. When they received their inheritances in Palestine, the same relative order was preserved. OF THE PRIESTS (Joshua 21:9-19). (9) Out of the tribe of . . . Judah . . . and Simeon; and (17) out of the tribe of Benjamin.—It is worthy of notice that, with the exception of a single city in the tribe of Simeon (viz., Ain, Joshua 21:16), all the priestly cities are so arranged as to fall ultimately within the kingdom of Judah, of which the capital was Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. The Levites also left their cities and their suburbs in the reign of Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 11:14), and came over to Judah. But the fact that all the priests, with the trifling exception noted above, were already settled in that kingdom, must have been a great attraction. When these facts are observed, it is hardly possible not to be struck with the undesigned agreement between the Book of Joshua and the later history, as well as with the Divine foresight which arranged the distribution of the people thus. (13) Hebron (El Khalil).(14) Jattir (Attir).Eshtemoa (Es Semϋ’a).(15) Debir.—Probably identical with the town of this name in Joshua 15:49 (Edh. Dhβherξyeh), south-west of Hebron. (16) Juttah (Yuttah). Beth-shemesh (Ain Shemes).(17) Gibeon (El Jib). Geba (Jeb’a).(18) Anathoth (‘Anβta).Almon (’Almit).(20) The children of Kohath . . . had the cities . . . out of the tribe of Ephraim.—In this instance the most honoured among the families of the Levites (after the house of Aaron) is grouped with the tribe next in honour after Judah. The tribes of Dan and Manasseh (Joshua 21:23-25) also were highly honoured, as they received Kohathites to settle among them. (21) Shechem . . . in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge.—The metropolis of Israel for the time being is made a city of refuge; and there is an obvious convenience in this. In the same way Solomon made Jerusalem a city of refuge for Shimei, binding him not to leave the city under penalty of death (1 Kings 2:36-46). Gezer (Tell Jezer).(22) Kibzaim (Tell el-Kabϋs).Beth-horon (Beit-’Ur).(23, 24) For these Danite cities, see Joshua 19:40-46.

Verse 5. And the rest of the children of Kohath] That is, the remaining part of that family that were not priests, for those who were priests had their lot in the preceding tribes. Those, therefore, of the family of Kohath, who were simply Levites, and not of the priests or Aaron's family, (see Joshua 21:10), had their habitations in Ephraim, Dan, and the half tribe of Manasseh. It has been asked in what sense did the Levites possess those cities, seeing they had no inheritance? To which it may be answered that it is not likely the Levites had the exclusive property of the cities in which they dwelt, for it is evident that the other Israelites dwelt among them. We know, says Calmet, by history, that the cities of the Levites were almost entirely filled with Israelites of other tribes. For instance, Gibeah of Benjamin, which is here given to the Levites, Joshua 21:17, was always peopled by the Benjamites, as appears from the history of the Levite, whose wife was so horribly abused by them; Judges 19:22-27. Saul and all his family dwelt in the same city; and David and his court spent the first years of his reign at Hebron, which was also a city of the Levites, Joshua 21:10. It appears, therefore, that they had no other property in those cities than merely the right to certain houses, which they might sell, but always with the right of perpetual redemption, for they could finally alienate nothing; and if the possessor of such a house, having sold it, did not redeem it at the year of jubilee, it reverted to the Levites. And as to their lands for their cattle, which extended two thousand cubits without the city, these they were not permitted to sell: they were considered as the Lord's property. See Leviticus 25:32-34, and the notes there. It is therefore very likely that, in the first instance, the Levites had simply the right to choose, in all the cities assigned them, the houses in which they were to dwell, and that those of the tribe to which the city belonged occupied all the other dwellings. There is also reason to believe that in process of time, when the families of the Levites increased, they had more dwellings assigned to them, which were probably built at the public expense. We may also observe that the Levites were not absolutely bound to live in these and no other cities: for when the tabernacle was at Nob, priests and Levites dwelt there, see 1 Samuel 21:1, c. and when the worship of God was established at Jerusalem, multitudes both of priests and Reviles dwelt there, though it was no Levitical city: as did the courses of priests afterwards at Jericho. This was a circumstance which Moses had foreseen, and for which he had provided. See Deuteronomy 18:6, &c.

5. And the rest of the children of Kohath] i.e. those who sprang from Moses, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, and formed the non-priestly portion, shared ten cities in the land of Ephraim, Dan, and half Manasseh west of the Jordan.

The non-priestly Kohathites had been diminished by the destruction of Korah and his company Num. 16.