and they gave them Kirjath-Arba, [which Arba was] the father of Anak, that is, Hebron, in the mountain of Judah, with its suburbs round about it.
The priests' first city was the old stronghold of Arba, father of the Anakim giants — now called Hebron and handed to Aaron's descendants with its pasture land. Why does the list of priestly cities open with a giant's name, and why did this town go to the men who served at God's altar?
The verse keeps the old Canaanite name beside the new one. One writer explains who Arba was, and what God does with human greatness.
The Anakim are the "long-necked," giants in stature, and children of pride, of whom the boastful claim is made, "Who can stand before the children of Anak?" (Deut. 9:2.)… the name Arba is common Hebrew for the numeral four, which more easily carries the sense of "square, four-square," suited to the father of a giant race. The number four also stands for the creature, and for weakness. That does not work against this meaning; it is God's comment from the other side. God puts the mark of nothingness on what is loftiest in nature, and brings it low.
The new name carries a very different sense. One writer reads Hebron as fellowship, and ties the right to hold it to faith.
Hebron means "communion" and only those who are of faith have any right to possess the place of true communion or fellowship. Satan spends every effort to keep us from this, but faith in the Son of God overcomes.
The list of priestly cities begins here, and one writer sees that order as deliberate. The same town does two jobs: it shelters the accidental killer, and it houses the men who draw near to God.
A city of refuge heads the whole series. The repetition seems to give it special emphasis — first as the city of Arba, the father of Anak, and then as the refuge for the manslayer… A divine Man has taken the place of the one who shows the pride and independence of man's fallen heart; and in Him the whole counsel of God is found. Hebron expresses the communion of the whole Godhead, so it fittingly fills the first place in the series. How blessed and wonderful a portion for the priests of God!
Aaron's family did not get land at random. One writer explains which tribes gave up the priests' cities, and why.
The Levites then received these cities by lot, beginning with the families of the Kohathites. Aaron was from that family, and his family (the priests) received thirteen cities by lot, from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. This was fitting. Jerusalem (God's centre) stood on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, and Judah included Simeon. So the priests would be near to God's sanctuary, to do service there. The priests were (typically) the worshippers, so in the service of God they came first.
The city already carried a long history before the priests moved in. One writer traces it from Abraham's altar, through the graves of the patriarchs, to this verse and beyond.
There, when Lot preferred the cities of the plain, Abraham, the father of the people, chose his home (Gen. 13:18); there he built an altar to Jehovah and received the promise of God (Gen. 18:1); but more than anything, Hebron is the place of death… It was there that Sarah died (Gen. 23:2), there that she was buried, and Abraham too (Gen. 25:10); also Isaac (Gen. 35:27-29); and then Jacob and the patriarchs… Later (Joshua 21) it becomes a city of refuge and the property of the Levites. More than that, it is the starting point of David's kingdom (2 Sam. 2:1-4).
The Levites' portion looked strange — a town and its grazing land, not a tribal territory. One writer describes how they came to claim it.
The Levites had no lands nor lot in Canaan as the other tribes had. Once the Lord provided the cities of refuge, they came to the high priest, Eleazar, and to Joshua at Shiloh. There they laid claim to the cities and the pasture lands, which Moses had commanded the tribes to give them out of their inheritance.
- Pride — Arba fathered the giant race, and the verse keeps his name only to write Hebron over it. God marks what is loftiest in nature as nothing.
- Fellowship — the new name, Hebron, means communion, and only faith has any right to hold that ground.
- Gift — that ground heads the thirteen cities of the priests, the men who serve nearest to God.
- Refuge — the same city shelters the manslayer. The place of fellowship is also the place of safety for the guilty who flee there.
- Kingdom — Hebron holds the graves of the patriarchs, and later becomes the starting point of David's kingdom.
But the fields of the city and the hamlets thereof gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
Joshua 21 gives the priests cities to live in. The first one named is Hebron — the city Caleb had won by faith. Verse 12 records the settlement. The city itself passes to Aaron's family. The fields and villages stay with Caleb.
The fields called "his possession" belonged to a man who had waited most of his life for that one spot. Commentators trace his claim back to the day he first walked there:
In Numbers 13 the twelve men Moses sent reached Hebron. From there they went on to Eshcol, to carry back the magnificent fruits that would prove the beauty of the country. But it was not Eshcol, as one might have thought, which caught Caleb's eye and captured his heart. His faith reached on to something better. Hebron, where his feet had walked, is given to him. From that moment its name stayed engraved on his heart for forty-five years. At last he stood before Joshua to claim "this hill country of which the Lord spoke" as his everlasting possession.
Caleb keeps the fields, but the city goes to the priests. One writer notes how Caleb won Hebron, and how soon it changed hands:
Caleb received Hebron as his inheritance, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel, and he drove the giants out of it. Yet very soon afterwards this same city is taken from him and given to the priests. What a privilege for Caleb!
Hebron stands at the head of the priests' list. Another writer finds that placement deliberate:
A city of refuge heads the whole series. The repetition seems to stress it: Hebron is named first as the city of Arba, the father of Anak, and then as the refuge for the manslayer. A divine Man has taken the place of the one who shows the pride and independence of man's fallen heart. In Him the whole counsel of God is found. Because Hebron expresses the communion of the whole Godhead, it takes the first place in the series. How blessed and wonderful a portion for the priests of God!
Hebron already had a long history. One writer traces its roles one after another as a single picture:
Hebron was above all the place of death, for the tombs of Sarah, Abraham, Jacob and the patriarchs were there. From this same place Joseph, a picture of Christ in rejection, went out to look for his brothers. Hebron then became a city of refuge from the avenger of blood, prefiguring the cross which shelters a guilty people. Last of all, it was the main home of the priests, the sons of Aaron. They picture that priesthood which now makes Christ's death the focus of its praises. So this place speaks in a striking way of the cross as the foundation of royal glory and as the basis of all our blessings. Caleb chose it as his home. Caleb's career reached its high point at Hebron. David's began there, for it was at Hebron that the tribes first acknowledged him as king.
Chapter 21 answers a request from the Levites, and one writer shows what that request rested on:
Moses gave no inheritance to the Levites. The Lord was their inheritance. After the tribes had received their allotments, the heads of the Levite families came to Joshua and Eleazar with a petition. They based it on the Word of God spoken to Moses. The people were obedient and gave them cities out of their own inheritances. But the cities were also assigned by lot, so it was the Lord who gave them their homes. How it must have pleased Him to see His Word remembered, obeyed and acted on! God's purpose in scattering them over the land was, no doubt, that they might be a good influence in divine things: urging the tribes to worship the Lord, reminding them of His goodness and holding them back from idolatry.
Another writer sees God's care for His servants running through the whole arrangement:
God took care of His dependent servants. He let the whole congregation of Israel share the holy privilege of being co-workers with Him — and it truly was a privilege. They provided for those who had willingly given themselves to His work and left everything else behind.
- Won. Hebron was not a windfall. Caleb carried its name in his heart for forty-five years and then claimed it, giants and all.
- Yielded. The city he had fought for passes to the priests. One writer calls that a privilege, not a loss.
- Kept. The fields and villages remain his, so the man of faith and the servants of God share one place between them.
- Filled. Hebron heads the priests' list. It is the city of communion and the refuge of the manslayer — a portion that points to Christ.
- Provided. The Levites had no land, so every tribe gave from its own. Supporting those devoted to God's work was a privilege God shared with His whole people.
And they gave to the children of Aaron the priest the city of refuge for the slayer, Hebron and its suburbs; and Libnah and its suburbs,
Joshua 21 hands out the towns where the Levites were to live. The first name on the list is Hebron — the city already set apart as a shelter for anyone who had killed another person by accident. The verse ties three things together: a priestly family, a city of refuge, and names that commentators read as pictures of Christ.
The priests' towns came by lot, carved out of other tribes' land. Which tribes supplied them was no accident.
Aaron was from the family of Kohath, and his family (the priests) received thirteen cities by lot, from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. This was appropriate, for Jerusalem (God's centre) was on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, and Simeon was included in Judah. So the priests would be near to God's sanctuary, to do service there. In picture, the priests were the worshippers, so in the service of God they came first.
Commentators also see the Messiah in this arrangement. It plants the priestly line inside Judah, where the kingship was later established.
So the priesthood, which came from Kohath's family, is closely united here with the tribe of Judah and the place where the kingship was established... So we see Judah and Joseph, who had the birthright, united through the Levitical priesthood living among them. These three names — Judah, Joseph, and Levi — speak to us, though still dimly, of the Messiah's features as king, as firstborn, and as high priest.
Hebron appears twice over in this verse — once by name, once as the refuge. The city had also carried the name of Arba, the father of Anak, and commentators take the contrast as deliberate.
A city of refuge heads the whole list. The repetition seems to give it special emphasis: first as the city of Arba, the father of Anak, and then as the refuge for the manslayer... A divine Man has taken the place of the one who shows the pride and independence of man's fallen heart, and in Him the whole counsel of God is found. Hebron expresses the communion of the whole Godhead, so it fittingly fills the first place in the list. How blessed and wonderful a portion for the priests of God!
Safety is not all that the name offers.
Hebron (communion) gives the added sweetness of fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).
The chapter holds two different provisions, each with its own purpose. One city carried both: the priests' town of Hebron was also the open refuge.
The cities of refuge express the grace of God to Israel themselves, as we have seen, while applying to us also. The Levitical cities were there to keep ministry going. That ministry would have been Israel's salvation as a nation, if they had listened to it, and if the ministry itself had not betrayed its trust.
For the man who ran to Hebron, the shelter was complete the moment he was inside.
Once the slayer found himself within the boundaries of the city of refuge, he might breathe freely and enjoy calm and sweet rest. No avenging sword could reach him there; not a hair of his head could be touched there.
The list does not stop at Hebron. Commentators read the next town, Libnah, along the same lines.
The second name, Libnah, means "whiteness." Like Hebron, we have met it several times already. It first comes before us as a city taken by Joshua, where it represents, as we have seen, separation from evil. We find it again among Judah's cities in the lowland. There it keeps the same meaning, but applies to Christ entering the sanctuary, clothed in the white linen garment of the priest. Here it speaks in the same way of the absolute purity of the Mediator, the Man, Christ Jesus.
Spreading Levites through every tribe served the nation, not just the tribe of Levi.
So, in the final ordering of the possessions in the promised land, the Lord provided for keeping the knowledge of His word alive among His people. Without this their prosperity was bound to cease. Without obedience to the word of God they would lose their privileges.
- Portion placed. The priests drew thirteen cities by lot in Judah, Simeon and Benjamin, close to God's sanctuary where they served.
- Portion first. Hebron, the city of communion, heads their list — a blessed and wonderful portion for the priests of God.
- Portion shared. The same city stood open to the man who had killed by accident. Inside it, no avenging sword could reach him.
- Portion pictured. Hebron sets a divine Man in place of Arba's pride, and Libnah adds the pure white of the Mediator.
- Portion spread. The Levites lived in towns across every tribe. They kept God's word alive among His people, and Israel's prosperity hung on obedience to that word.