Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

LEVITICAL CITIES

Special areas set aside for the tribe of Levi in place of a regular territorial inheritance (Nm 18:20-24; 26:62; Dt 10:9; 18:1-2; Jos 18:7). The Levites were allotted 48 cities, including the six cities of refuge (Nm 35:6-7). Each town and a limited zone around it was for the Levites (vv 3-5); their property enjoyed a special status with regard to the laws of redemption (Lv 25:32-34).

Two lists of the Levitical cities are given (Jos 21; 1 Chr 6:54-81). Thirteen towns were for the priests (Jos 21:4), including the six cities of refuge. In spite of some variation between the two lists, it seems clear that they go back to one original. The distribution of the Levitical towns tells much about their purpose. They were distributed among the 12 tribes but not usually placed at the tribal centers. Those in Judah and Simeon were actually in the southern hill country, the area where the satellite clans of the Calebites and the Kenizzites had settled. Those in Benjamin were grouped along the southern half of that tribe’s inheritance, the part later attached to Judah; the family of Saul was located there. Levitical towns were placed in border areas where garrisons were required—for example, on the eastern desert fringes in Reuben and facing Philistia in Dan. Other key territories were in the plains where Asher, Manasseh, and other Galilean tribes had originally failed to conquer the Canaanite cities (Jgs 1:27, 31). Thus, the Levites were assigned places where the special task of controlling strategic areas was necessary. Many of the towns were not taken during the initial conquest and only came under Israelite control in the reign of David.

Though the Levites were not the exclusive residents of any one city (they shared them with other Israelites), they were posted there for specific duties. They tended to the work of the Lord and the service of the king (1 Chr 26:30-32). Collecting tithes (Nm 18:21; Dt 14:28), handling legal and judicial matters (1 Chr 26:29; 2 Chr 17:8; 19:8-10), military garrison duties (1 Chr 26:1-19), and managing the storehouses (v 22) were all Levitical responsibilities. Though they served by rotation in the capital (27:1), they also had similar duties the year round in their home districts (26:29-32). Their loyalty to the house of David caused them to lose their status in the northern kingdom, so most of them joined Judah when the kingdom was split (2 Chr 11:13-14).