Now these were the territories assigned to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clan for their settlements, because the first lot fell to them: They were given Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasturelands. But the fields and villages around the city were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh. So the descendants of Aaron were given Hebron (a city of refuge), Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Hilen, Debir, Ashan, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, together with their pasturelands. And from the tribe of Benjamin they were given Gibeon, Geba, Alemeth, and Anathoth, together with their pasturelands. So they had thirteen cities in all among their families.
Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, "The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock." So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance: The first lot came out for the Kohathite clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
Significance
The Chronicler's list of Levitical cities (1 Chr 6:54-60) draws from Joshua 21:1-4, which records the Levites' petition for towns and pasturelands as their inheritance since they received no tribal territory. Both texts identify the Kohathite allotment from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. The Chronicler preserves this Joshua-era allocation to demonstrate that post-exilic Levitical land claims have ancient precedent, rooted in the original conquest-era distribution commanded through Moses and implemented under Joshua (nachala, "inheritance"). The parallel further specifies that this allotment was distributed by lot (גּוֹרָל, goral), the thirteen Aaronic cities—Hebron among them as a city of refuge—matching almost exactly across both lists.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Redemptive-Historical Progression (recapitulation) — the Levitical-cities institution, commanded in Num 35 and enacted in Josh 21, is re-registered in 1 Chr 6 as preservation, not forward development (its bearing on Christ is analogical, carried by the fulfilled Exodus 19:6 promise): the landless tribe whose inheritance is the LORD Himself is planted in towns among the tribes, and the Chronicler restates the conquest-era Kohathite allotment from Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin as the standing charter of that dispersed priestly presence.
