36 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Numbers 35 Though the tribe of Levi had no part in the division of the land, yet cities out of the several tribes are here ordered to be given them to dwell in, to the number of forty eight, Numbers 35:1, six of which were to be cities of refuge, Numbers 35:9, but not for wilful murderers, in whatsoever way they might kill a man,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake to Moses,.... After he had described the borders of the land, and given instructions about the division of it among the several tribes, and named the persons that should be concerned in parting and putting it into the possession of the Israelites, he makes a provision for the Levites; for though they had no inheritance in the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Orders having been given before for the dividing of the land of Canaan among the lay-tribes (as I may call them), care is here taken for a competent provision for the clergy, the tribe of Levi, which ministered in holy things. I. Forty-eight cities were to be assigned them, with their suburbs, some in every tribe, ver. 1-8. II. Six cities out of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Command the children of Israel,.... All the tribes of them; it is not a bare instruction that is given them, much less a mere request that is made to them, or something proposed, and left to their option whether they would agree to it or not; but it is strictly enjoined them by the Lord, who had given them freely all they should possess, and who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And cities shall they have to dwell in,.... For them and their families, and indeed for nothing else, they having no trades nor worldly business to carry on in them: and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle; for stables and stalls to put them up in, and for barns and storehouses to lay in provender for them: and for their goods; where to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the suburbs of the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites,.... The dimensions and bounds of them were not left to the Israelites, to give what ground they pleased for this purpose, but were fixed to what length they should be: these [shall reach] from the walls of the city, and outward, a thousand cubits round about; which was half a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits,.... Before only 1000 cubits were ordered to be measured, and now 2000, even 2000 more, which were to be added to the other, and to begin where they ended. The first 1000 were for their cattle and goods, these 2000 for their gardens, orchards, fields, and vineyards;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites,.... The number of which is not yet expressed, but is afterwards: there shall be six cities for refuge; a sort of asylums, of which there were many among the Heathens, perhaps in imitation of these, for persons to have recourse to for safety, when in danger of life: the Septuagint render...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So all the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty eight cities,.... Of these forty eight cities, their names, and what tribes they were in, and which of them were particularly cities of refuge, an account is given in Joshua 21:10: them shall ye give, with their suburbs; according to the dimensions before prescribed.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel,.... What shall fall by lot for their inheritance, and they shall be possessed of; and though they are, shall not refuse, nor grudge to give them, according to the direction of God, whose the land is, they holding it under him: from [them that have] many ye...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time, or he continued his speech unto him: saying: as follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... Now, directly: when ye come over Jordan into the land of Canaan; as they quickly would, being now very near it, and of which there was the utmost certainty, since the Lord had promised to bring them over that river, and put them in possession of that land.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then ye shall appoint your cities to be cities of refuge for you,.... And, according to the Jewish writers (i), these were neither to be made large nor little, but middling; and they appointed them where there were markets and fairs, at which goods were to be sold; and where there was plenty of water, and a multitude of people; and where there...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they shall be unto you cities of refuge from the avenger,.... Or near kinsman; for as the right of redemption of an estate that was mortgaged belonged to such an one, so of revenging the blood of any one that was killed: that the manslayer die not; by the hand of the avenger, who in the heat of his passion would, could he come at him, fall...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And of these cities which ye shall give,.... Of the forty eight cities they were to give to the Levites, Numbers 35:7, six cities shall ye have for refuge; which, I think, makes it clear, that not all the forty eight cities were for refuge, only six of them.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye shall give three cites on this side Jordan,.... Which were Bezer in the wilderness, out of the tribe of Reuben; and Ramoth in Gilead, out of the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, out of the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua 20:8, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan: which were Kadesh in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali; Shechem in Mount...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
These six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger,.... For an Israelite, and a proselyte of righteousness, one that embraced the Jewish religion, and in all things conformed to it, and to whom there was but one law in things civil and religious: and for the sojourner among you; the proselyte of the gate, who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die,.... As with an hatchet, hammer, sword, knife, c. he is a murderer the instrument used by him, and with which he smote, shows that he had a bad design, and intended to kill, or he would never have smitten a man with such an instrument: the murderer shall surely be put to death; be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And if he smite him with throwing a stone,.... "Or with a stone of the hand" (q), which the Jews interpret of a stone so big as to fill a man's hand, and so wherewith he may die; at whom it is thrown; is sufficient to cause his death, if struck with it; so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it of a "stone of fulness of hands, which is sufficient...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Or if he smote him with an hand weapon of wood,.... A stick, or staff, or club: wherewith he may die, and he die; which is sufficient to kill a man, as the same Targum explains it; and a man dies with the blow that is given him by it: he is a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put to death; no pardon given him, or the benefit of the city...