Levite Cities (Parshas Shoftim 5775)

Where did the Levites Live?

The Torah writes (Deutoronomy 18:1-2):

The priests the Levites, even all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His inheritance. And they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He hath spoken unto them.

The Torah explains earlier that Levites only got cities and open areas around them (Numbers 35:2-3):

’Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and open land round about the cities shall ye give unto the Levites. And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and their open land shall be for their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their beasts.

Parts of the open areas were not allowed to be used at all as explained by the Talmud (Arachin 33b, as cited by Rashi [Numbers 35:2]):

Empty belts of land surrounding each city, so as to beautify the city. It was forbidden to build a house, plant a vineyard or sow seed there.

They were given 6 cities of refuge and 42 additional cities (ibid 35:6). The Rambam (Shmita 13:1) adds that all cities of refuge in the future will also belong to them. The Rambam (Rotzeah 8:8-9) also explains that all 48 cities of the Levites acted as a place of refugee for a murderer but there were differences between them and the 6 designated cities.

The houses and fields in Levite cities could not be sold forever and the Levites always retained the right of redemption (see Leviticus 25:32-34). 

The Levites were not allowed to be buried in the cities or their surrounding areas as the Talmud (Makoth 12a) explains:

Rav Avahu said: These cities were not given for burial as it is says: "And their open fields should be for their animals and possessions and all living" - for the living and not for burial

The Rambam (Shmita 13:3) explains that Levites were granted additional land outside their cities and open areas to be used for burial purposes only (see also Meiri on Makkoth 12a).

They were also not allowed to share in the spoils of war as explained by the Rambam (Shmita 13:10) but only in the land of Israel, with other lands allowed.

Which cities were given to the Levites?

The cities were allocated by the Jewish people under the guidance of Joshua and Elazar as described later on (Joshua 21 and I Chronicles 6). They were allocated to each of the Levite families by lots as follows, 48 cities in total including all the cities of refuge:

• Kohath - Kohanim - 13 cities
• Judah and Simeon - 9 cities - Hebron (city of refuge); Libnah, Jattir, Estemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah and Beth-shemesh
• Benjamin - 4 cities - Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth and Almon
• Kohath - non-Kohanim - 10 cities
• Ephraim - 4 cities - Schechem (city of refuge), Gezer, Kibzaim and Beth-horon
• Dan - 4 cities - Elteke, Gibbethon, Aijalon and Gath-rimmon
• Manasseh on the west bank - 2 cities - Taanach and Gath-rimmon
• Gershon - 13 cities
• Manasseh on the east bank - 2 cities - Golan in Bashan (city of refuge), Beeshterah
• Issachar - 4 cities - Kishion, Dobrath, Jarmuth and En-gannin
• Asher - 4 cities - Mishal, Abdon, Helkath and Rehob
• Naphtali - 3 cities - Kedesh in the Galilee (city of refuge), Hammoth-dor and Kartan
• Merari - 12 cities
• Zebulun - 4 cities -  Jokneam, Kartah, Dimnah and Nahalal
• Reuben - 4 cities - Bezer, Jahaz, Kedemoth and Mephaath
• Gad - 4 cities - Ramoth in Gilead (city of refuge), Mahanaim, Heshbon and Jazer

The cities were allocated to the specific families of Levites and not all of them (see Metzudas David [Joshua 21:7]). All cities were given with the open land around them (as per Numbers 35:1-8), except Hebron, where the open land was given to Caleb (see Joshua 21:12). The six cities of refugee were all given to Levites  - 1 to Kohanim - Hebron, and 5 to the rest.

 [From Wikipedia Commons, licensed under CC-BY-SA, User:Agbad]

There are several questions:

• How was the open land around Hebron allowed to be given to Caleb if the Torah requires all the open land around the Levite cities to go to the Levites?
• Why is Bezer, which is a city of refugee, not mentioned that way?
• According to some versions, there is no mention of the cities given by Reuben (Joshua 21:36-37) in Joshua while they are mentioned in Chronicles. Why?
• Why are the cities listed in Chronicles slightly different than in Joshua?
• How was Ephraim allowed to give the city of Shechem to Levites, if Jacob gave this to Joseph specifically (see Joshua 24:32)?
• Why did Kohanim get 13 cities (over 25%)?
• If Shechem was a Levite city, why do we find it later to be a city of Ephraim (see Judges 8 and 9, and I Chronicles 7:28), and a city of King Jeroboam (see I Kings 12:25)?
• Why is Nob, the city of Kohanim (see I Samuel 22:19), is not mentioned in this list?
• Is Geba here the same as the Geba in the story of the concubine of Geba (see Joshua 19)? If so, if this was a Levite city, why was Benjamin punished?

I would like to suggest that perhaps these cities were not fully occupied by the Levites, since Tanach only tells us that these cities were given to the Levites, but it never mentions that they were occupied by them.

[Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com]