Bible Commentaries
Joshua 21

Verse 1

Eleazar the priest. See note on Joshua 14:4 I.

children = sons.

Verse 2

Shiloh. See note on Joshua 18:1 .

The LORD commanded = Jehovah commanded. Compare Numbers 35:1-4 .Leviticus 25:33 .

hand. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause) for what is effected by it.

suburbs = common lands, or pasture lands; and so throughout the chapter, fifty-seven times.

Verse 3

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah . App-4 .

Verse 4

came out. i.e. out of the bag containing the Urim and Thummim. See note on Exodus 28:30 . Num 28:55 .

Verse 8

as the LORD. According as Jehovah.

Verse 11

Arba. Compare Jos 14:12-15 . 1 Chronicles 6:55 .

Verse 12

Caleb. Compare Joshua 14:14 . 1 Chronicles 6:56 .

Verse 15

Holon. 1 Chronicles 6:58 = Hilon.

Verse 16

Beth-shemesh. Some codices, with four early printed editions, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and Beth-shemesh".

Verse 18

Anathoth. Some codices, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and Anathoth".

Verse 21

in mount = in the hill country of.

Verse 23

Gibbethon. Some codices, with three early printed editions, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and Gibbethon".

Verse 24

Aijalon. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and Aijalon".

Verse 29

En-gannim. Some codices, with one early printed edition, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and En-gannim".

Verse 31

Helkath. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and Helkath".

Verse 34

Kartah. Some codices, with five early printed editions, Aramaean, and Vulgate, read "and Kartah

Verse 36

And out of the tribe of Reuben. See note on Joshua 21:38 . Reuben. Some codices, with one early printed edition, add "a city of refuge for the manslayer

Bezer . Some codices, with Septuagint and Vulgate, add in the desert".

and Jahasah . Some codices omit this "and

Verse 37

Kedemoth. Some codices, with six early printed editions, and Septuagint, read "and Kedemoth

Verse 38

By an Homoceoteleuton ( App-6 ) some scribe, writing as far as "four cities "at end of Joshua 21:35 , went back with his eye to the same words at the end of Joshua 21:37 , and omitted, by an accident, the two verses Joshua 21:36 and Joshua 21:37 , and continued at Joshua 21:38 , which commences with the some words which end Joshua 21:35 . Hence they are not contained in the current text of the Hebrew Bible. The Authorized Version puts these verses in, however, without a note; the Revised Version also, but with a note. The two verses are contained in all the early printed Hebrew Bibles, the Septuagint and Vulgate, and very many codices. They were first omitted by Jacoh ben Chayim (1524, 1525), and the current Hebrew printed texts have followed him.

Verse 44

man. Hebrew. 'ish. App-14 .