Study notes

Joshua 21

Introducing JoshuaWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

13:1–21:45 Section

The land God promised to give Abraham’s family line was divided up among the Israelites. The book of Joshua records the land given to each tribe.

The tribes of Gad and Reuben received land east of the River Jordan. So did half of the tribe of Manasseh. The rest of the tribes received land west of the River Jordan.

Caleb received land in Hebron. The Levites received towns and grasslands throughout all the other tribes’ land. Their cities included the safe cities.

Keeping careful records about the land would help the Israelites in the future. The records would help each tribe know its borders so they wouldn’t fight about them. The records would show the tribes what land they were responsible for. The records also showed the exact ways God kept his promise to Abraham about land.

Many Canaanites still lived in the land given to the tribes. God promised that he would be the one to drive them out. But the Israelites were his partners and they would have to work hard. Joshua made this clear in his instructions to Joseph’s family line. The tribes had to clear the land and drive out the Canaanites. Not every tribe obeyed those instructions.

13:8–21:45

  • As he had promised, God brought Israel into the land. Joshua then focused on dividing the land among Israel's tribes.

  • The tribal allowances made the covenant of the Israelites with God real. It showed the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since God owned the land, giving it to the tribes was a gift. God gave them the land to live in and guided its distribution.

  • In these lists of tribal allowances, the author describes some borders in great detail, allowing them to be mapped. With others, they are less plainly defined.

20:1–21:45

Before they fully divided the land, Joshua had to establish six cities of refuge and assign cities in which the Levites would live.

21:2–3

The Lord commanded Moses, as recorded in Numbers 35:1–7. One priestly duty was to teach God's law to Israel (see study note on 1:8). The Levites could do this better by living in all the areas of the tribes.

21:4

Those descended from Aaron the priest became Israel's priests. They received cities by lot. The towns of the priests were amongst tribes near Jerusalem, where the temple was later built.

21:5

The rest of the descendants of Kohath received cities in the central hill country, north of Jerusalem.

21:6

The clan of Gershon received cities among the four northernmost tribes in Israel.

21:7

The clan of Merari did not stay together as other Levitical clans did.

21:8

The pasturelands were areas for feeding flocks or cattle around the cities. The repeated use of this word in the list made the land allowance seem like a legal record (21:8–42). It guaranteed the Levites had access to lands right next to each city given to the Levites (Numbers 35:4–5).

21:9–42

The descendants of Aaron received thirteen cities, the rest of the Kohathite clan received ten, the descendants of Gershon received thirteen, and the Merari clan received twelve. There were a total of forty-eight Levitical cities. Each tribe had four Levitical cities, except Judah had eight, Simeon had one, and Naphtali had three. Six of the Levitical cities were also cities of refuge (20:7–8).

21:45

God had made Israel many good promises, and not one had failed. He kept his promise to give Israel possession of the land and to save them from their surrounding enemies.

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources