Barnes' Notes on Joshua 21:4

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Notes on the Whole Bible
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

Thirteen cities - This number is said to be too great for the single family of Aaron. But it appears 1 Chronicles 24:0 that the two surviving sons of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar, had together 24 sons, the heads of the priestly families. Since Aaron was 123 years old when he died Numbers 33:39, his sons’ grandchildren and great grandchildren were no doubt living in the elapsing years of Joshua’s course, and had to he provided with dwellings. They might altogether number several thousands. The “cities” of Canaan were for the most part small; as is manifest from the astonishing number of them in proportion to the area of the land, more particularly in the south, where the portion of the priests was situated. The priests or Levites would not occupy the whole of the dwellings in any city, nor all its “fields,” nor necessarily and always all its “villages” (compare Joshua 21:12). Non-Levites, to whom the cultivation of their land, and other secular concerns, were entrusted, no doubt resided in the Levitical cities or their precincts. It appears, further, that several of the cities here enumerated were only wrested from the Canaanites at a later date. return to 'Top of Page'

Read Joshua 21:4 →Read the full chapter →John Gill's Exposition →Jamieson, Fausset & Brown →Wesley's Explanatory Notes →Tyndale Open Study Notes →Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge →Keil & Delitzsch →

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