Joshua 21:5

Jos 21:5 And the rest of the children of Kohath [had] by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

Ver. 5. And the rest of the children of Kohath.] Thus the Levites were dispersed throughout the land - as salt is sprinkled upon meat, to keep it from putrifying; "ye are the salt of the earth" {Mat 5:13} - for instruction of the people; and herein that malediction, Gen 49:7, was turned into a benediction. It were happy if every congregation had an able minister. To many churches here at the first Reformation, for want of preachers, readers were sent; whence one of the martyrs wished that every able minister might have ten congregations committed to his charge till further provision could be made.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 21:5. Children of Kohath — Who were of Aaron’s family. Ephraim, Dan, and Manasseh — Which tribes were nearest to the three former, and so the Kohathites are placed next to their brethren the Aaronites. Ten cities — Fewer than they gave out of the three former tribes, because their inheritance was less than the former.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21:5 The remaining families of the Kohathite clan received cities in the central part of the hill country, north of Jerusalem.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. And the rest of the children of Kohath] That is, the remaining part of that family that were not priests, for those who were priests had their lot in the preceding tribes. Those, therefore, of the family of Kohath, who were simply Levites, and not of the priests or Aaron's family, (see Jos 21:10), had their habitations in Ephraim, Dan, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

It has been asked in what sense did the Levites possess those cities, seeing they had no inheritance? To which it may be answered that it is not likely the Levites had the exclusive property of the cities in which they dwelt, for it is evident that the other Israelites dwelt among them. We know, says Calmet, by history, that the cities of the Levites were almost entirely filled with Israelites of other tribes. For instance, Gibeah of Benjamin, which is here given to the Levites, Jos 21:17, was always peopled by the Benjamites, as appears from the history of the Levite, whose wife was so horribly abused by them; Jdg 19:22-27. Saul and all his family dwelt in the same city; and David and his court spent the first years of his reign at Hebron, which was also a city of the Levites, Jos 21:10. It appears, therefore, that they had no other property in those cities than merely the right to certain houses, which they might sell, but always with the right of perpetual redemption, for they could finally alienate nothing; and if the possessor of such a house, having sold it, did not redeem it at the year of jubilee, it reverted to the Levites. And as to their lands for their cattle, which extended two thousand cubits without the city, these they were not permitted to sell: they were considered as the Lord's property. See Le 25:32-34, and the notes there. It is therefore very likely that, in the first instance, the Levites had simply the right to choose, in all the cities assigned them, the houses in which they were to dwell, and that those of the tribe to which the city belonged occupied all the other dwellings. There is also reason to believe that in process of time, when the families of the Levites increased, they had more dwellings assigned to them, which were probably built at the public expense.

We may also observe that the Levites were not absolutely bound to live in these and no other cities: for when the tabernacle was at Nob, priests and Levites dwelt there, see 1Sa 21:1, c. and when the worship of God was established at Jerusalem, multitudes both of priests and Reviles dwelt there, though it was no Levitical city: as did the courses of priests afterwards at Jericho. This was a circumstance which Moses had foreseen, and for which he had provided. See De 18:6, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. And the rest of the children of Kohath] i.e. those who sprang from Moses, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, and formed the non-priestly portion, shared ten cities in the land of Ephraim, Dan, and half Manasseh west of the Jordan.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the rest of the children of Kohath,.... Which did not descend from him in the line of Amram and Aaron, but of Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, who were not priests, but Levites:

had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities; these other sort of Kohathites had their cities in tribes next to the other three where the Kohathites that were priests had theirs.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The non-priestly Kohathites had been diminished by the destruction of Korah and his company Num. 16. On comparing Num 26:57 following with Num 3:27 ff, two of the families of the Kohathites seem to have disappeared altogether. Hence, it is not surprising that the rest of the Kohathites were sufficiently accommodated in ten cities.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The children of Kohath were of Aaron’s family, or priests, but Levites only. These tribes are nearest to the three former, and so the Kohathites are placed next to their brethren the Aaronites.

Ten cities; fewer than they gave out for the three former tribes, because their inheritance was less than the former. See Num 35:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Children of Kohath - Who were of Aaron's family. Ephraim, Daniel, and Manesseh - Which tribes are nearest to the three former, and so the Kohathites are placed next to their brethren the Aaronites. Ten cities - Fewer than they gave out of the three former tribes, because their inheritance was less than the former.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And the remaining descendants of Kehos. They were the descendants of Moshe, the descendants of Yitzhar, Chevron and Uzziel.

From the families of the tribe of Ephraim. From the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Ephraim, these cities were alloted to them. They received cities from the portion of each tribe, as it is said: “Take more from a larger [portion], and less from a smaller [portion]; each person according to his inheritance, shall give of his cities to the Levi’im.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.