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.
9.
And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name,
10.
Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot.
11.
And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it.
12.
But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
13.
Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,
14.
And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,
15.
And Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs,
16.
And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.
17.
And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,
18.
Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities.
19.
All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
20.
And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites which remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.
21.
For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs,
22.
And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Beth-horon with her suburbs; four cities.
23.
And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs,
24.
Aijalon with her suburbs, Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; four cities.
25.
And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; two cities.
26.
All the cities were ten with their suburbs for the families of the children of Kohath that remained.
27.
And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beesh-terah with her suburbs; two cities.
28.
And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs,
29.
Jarmuth with her suburbs, En-gannim with her suburbs; four cities.
30.
And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs,
31.
Helkath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs; four cities.
32.
And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.
33.
All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
34.
And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,
35.
Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four cities.
36.
And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs,
37.
Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs; four cities.
38.
And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs,
39.
Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all.
40.
So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.
41.
All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs.
42.
These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all these cities.
43.
And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
44.
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 their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.
REST AT LAST!
‘Rest round about.’
Joshua 21:44
The conquest is ended, and the distribution of the land is completed. The time has now come for the peaceable possession and cultivation of the land. During the whole of this time, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, already settled on the east side of the Jordan, have been helping their brethren on the west side of Jordan. The time seems now to have come for their return home.
I. Recapitulation.—This portion of the Book of Joshua relates how, in accordance with the earlier injunction, given in Numbers 35, three cities on either side of the Jordan were set apart as cities of refuge for innocent homicides; how also, for the Levites, forty-eight cities, with their pasture land, including the six cities of refuge, were drawn from the other tribes, and assigned by lot to the three Levitical clans, and how, then, the eastern tribes were dismissed by Joshua in peace, being heartily commended by Joshua for their unselfish service. These tribes, on the way back, erected a memorial altar. This being regarded as idolatrous by the western tribes, was inquired into, but the offenders proved clearly that the altar signified neither rebellion nor a new sacrificial centre, but merely stood as a witness of their kinship and sympathy with the western tribes. Their plea was effective. The deputation accepted it, commended the piety of their brethren, and reported to the nation that the incident was worthy of praise.
II. The nation’s unity.—These details emphasise the strong and hopeful spirit of unity manifested by the people. That this should appear is surely not strange, after the inspiring leadership of Joshua and his judicious management of the allotment of the land.
Joshua 21:43–5 puts delightfully the writer’s view of the work of Joshua in this age. ‘ So the Lord gave,’ as in the Revised Version, though but a slight alteration, makes an important difference. The people were now in actual possession of the land promised to their fathers. In one sense it was theirs by conquest, but they had conquered only as far as they had received Divine help, and had obeyed the Divine will. Individually it was theirs also by Divine appointment—for it had been divided to them by lot. ‘Promised.’ The promise was first made centuries before, to Abraham. But time neither annuls nor invalidates God’s promises. ‘The Lord gave them rest,’ etc. The rest was twofold, from the wilderness wanderings, and from the perils of war. But the rest was not absolute. The Apostle uses it as a type of the true rest in Christ ( Hebrews 4:8-9, R.V.). None of the Israelites were now in arms against them. Most of those who remained were in subjection and paid tribute. The subsequent ascendancy of the Canaanites at certain periods was the effect of the cowardice and slothfulness of the Israelites; and may be regarded as the punishment of their sinful tendencies towards idolatry.
III. The Divine faithfulness.—‘There failed not,’ etc. Note how the writer dwells upon the Divine faithfulness. God takes His own time—to us it may seem a long time—to make good His promises. But he who can wait God’s time will always prove the truth of God’s promises. God royally fulfils His part of His covenants. Delays and failures are always found to be due to the over-confidence, or cowardice, or inertness, of those who have the right to trust His promises and go ahead.
Illustrations
(1) ‘ “There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel.” The verse would end well there, but that is not a full stop. After the word “Israel” there is but a semicolon. Four words remain which contain all we want to know about God’s promises and God’s dispensations. These four words are all of one syllable. They might form a child’s first lesson in reading. “All came to pass.” What a testimony for the old man to bear! What more could be said? The note of hand had matured and been redeemed. The promised harvest had grown into golden abundance, and had been reaped and garnered.’
(2) ‘Here is the triumphant record of God’s faithfulness. But the only name inscribed thereon is Jehovah’s. 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 Israel’s 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.’
45.
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.