Leviticus 25:34

But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold,.... The suburbs to the cities of the Levites reached two thousand cubits on every side of their cities, Num 35:5; in which they had fields to keep their cattle in, and these belonged to them in common; every Levite had not a particular field to himself as his own property, and which is the reason why it might not be sold, nor might they agree together to sell it, for then they would have nothing to keep their cattle in: the Jewish writers generally understand this of changing their fields, suburbs, and cities: hence they say, in the Misnah, they do not make a field a suburb, nor a suburb a field, nor a suburb a city, nor a city a suburb; upon which Maimonides (o) says, all agree that the Levites may not change a city, or suburb, or field which are theirs, because of what is said, Lev 25:34; and the wise men, of blessed memory, say, the meaning of it is, it shall not be changed, for they do not change anything from what it was before:

for it is their perpetual possession: and therefore never to be alienated from them, or be sold to another, or changed and put to another use; such care was taken of the ministers of the sanctuary, and of their maintenance and support, under the former dispensation; and suggests that they should continue in their stations without any alteration, as ministers of the Gospel should, who ought to give up themselves to the ministry of the word, and prayer, and not entangle themselves with the affairs of life.

(o) In Misn. Eracin, c. 9. sect. 8.

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

Lev 25:34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it [is] their perpetual possession.

Ver. 34. May not be sold.] This law lasted but during the paedagogy: for Joses, a Levite, sold his land, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. {Act 4:36-37}

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.

Lev 25:34-35. The field of the suburbs (namely, of the cities of the Levites) may not be sold — Not at all; partly, because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it. A sojourner — Understand it of proselytes only, for of other strangers they were permitted to take usury, Deu 23:20.

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

Where the Levites kept their cattle.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(34) But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold.—The Levitical cities had both suburbs or commons for their cattle, &c, and fields which they cultivated (Num_35:4-5). These outlying fields, which were beyond the suburbs, they are here forbidden to sell. According to the authorities during the second Temple the expression “to sell” here used is to be taken in a wider sense as including diverting any part of it from its original purpose. Hence they say it forbids the Levites not only to sell the field, but to convert it into a suburb, and vice versâ. What is field must always remain field, what is suburb must remain suburb, and what is city must continue to be city.

For it is their perpetual possession.—The estates belong to the whole tribe to all futurity, and the present occupiers have to transmit them intact to their successors. Hence no present owner, or all of them combined, have a right to dispose of any portion of the estates, or materially to alter it. They must hand these estates down to their successors as they receive them from their predecessors.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34. The law concerning houses in Levitical cities is not to apply to land outside the walls.

suburbs] rather, as R.V. mg., pasture lands, probably referring to common land belonging to the inhabitants of the adjacent city. The original word seems from its derivation to mean lit. land on to which cattle were driven.

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.

Of

the suburbs of the cities, See Poole "Num 35:4".

May not be sold; not sold at all, partly because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it. Some conceive that this law was altered in ensuing ages, which they gather from Jer 32:7,8; Ac 4:36,37. But those examples do not prove it. That sale of Jeremiah’s was made by a particular dispensation and command of God, and that in a time when the Levites, as well as the people, were to be destroyed or dispersed, and carried into captivity, and therefore could receive no considerable injury by it; and besides, this sale was only made formally and for signification, as it is explained, Lev 25:14,15. And for the land sold by Barnabas a Levite, Ac 4, as it was at a time when the Jewish church was dissolved, and their state upon the brink of utter ruin, so it is not evident that it was such suburb land, which would have yielded but a small price, but it might be other land, either such as he might have in right of his wife, or such as he might have purchased. For though the Levites in general had no other share of land beside this allotted them by God, yet it is conceived that particular Levites might purchase lands to themselves.

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

34. The field of the suburbs — The extent of these is given in Num_35:4-5, which see.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

May not be sold - Not sold at all, partly, because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it.

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

ושדה מגרש עריהם לא ימכר AND THE FIELDS OF THE SUBURBS OF THEIR CITIES MAY NOT BE SOLD — This means: they may not be sold as an absolute sale by the treasurer of the Temple property — that if a Levite dedicated his field to the Temple and has not redeemed it, and the treasurer then sold it to someone it does not pass into the possession of the priests in the Jubilee as is the case with the property of an Israelite of whom it is stated (Leviticus 27:16—20) “[and if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field… and if he will not redeem the field,] and he (the treasurer; see Rashi on that verse) has sold it to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more, [but the field when it goes out in the Jubilee, shall be… the priests]” — the Levite, however, may redeem it at any time (even after the Jubilee and also when the treasurer has sold it to another man) (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 6 9).

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.