Jos 20-21 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Josh 20:1-21:45: 20:1–21:45 Before the land was fully allotted, Joshua needed to establish six cities of refuge and assign cities for the Levites to live in. Summary for Josh 20:1-6: 20:1-6 These verses contain a review of the law concerning cities of refuge (see also Num 35:6-34 ).

Summary for Josh 20:1-21:45: 20:1–21:45 ^a Before the land was fully allotted, Joshua needed to establish six cities of refuge and assign cities for the Levites to live in.
Summary for Josh 20:1-6: 20:1-6 ^b These verses contain a review of the law concerning cities of refuge (see also Num 35:6-34 ^c).
20:3 ^d The relatives of a murder or manslaughter victim had the responsibility of seeking revenge for the death. If the avenger (Hebrew go’el) found the killer outside a city of refuge, he could kill him without punishment.
Summary for Josh 20:7-9: 20:7-9 ^e Joshua designated six cities of refuge: three on the east side of the Jordan, and three on the west. From anywhere in the land, one of these six well-known Levitical cities was no more than two days’ travel away.
20:9 ^f The treatment of foreigners in Israel was a great advance in human relations. Resident aliens were to receive every justice offered to native Israelites (see Exod 22:21 ^g; Lev 19:33-34 ^h; 24:22 ⁱ; Num 15:15-16 ^j).

‏ Joshua 21

Summary for Josh 21:1-8: 21:1-8 ^k The towns given to the tribe of Levi were determined by lot (see study note on 7:16-18) by Israel’s leaders.
Summary for Josh 21:2-3: 21:2-3 ^l The Lord commanded Moses: See Num 35:1-7 ^m. One of the priestly duties was to teach God’s torah (see study note on 1:8) to Israel. The Levites could accomplish this better by living throughout the tribal territories.
21:4 ⁿ The descendants of Aaron served as Israel’s priests. The cities they received were allotted by sacred lots. The priestly towns were in the tribal territories closest to Jerusalem, where the Temple was later built.
21:5 ^o The remaining families of the Kohathite clan received cities in the central part of the hill country, north of Jerusalem.
21:6 ^p The clan of Gershon received cities among the four northernmost tribes in Israel.
21:7 ^q The clan of Merari did not stay together as other Levitical clans did.
21:8 ^r The pasturelands were grazing ground surrounding the cities. The repetition of this word throughout the list (21:8-42 ^s) gave the allotment the character of a legal record, guaranteeing the Levites access to lands immediately surrounding each of the Levitical cities (Num 35:4-5 ^t).
Summary for Josh 21:9-42: 21:9-42 ^u 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 ^v).
21:45 ^w 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.