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Joshua 21 · a question people ask

Hebron was given to Caleb (14:13). How can it be given to the priests here?

In the text

The chapter says how it was split. "They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands around it. But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession" (21:11-12) (tap possession). The city and its pasture lands went to "the children of Aaron the priest" (21:13); the fields and villages stayed with Caleb, to whom Joshua had given Hebron "for an inheritance" (14:13). Chronicles gives the same split: "the fields of the city and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh" (1 Chronicles 6:56). The text doesn't say more about how the two shares worked side by side.

The verses

“They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands around it. But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Libnah with its pasture lands,”
Joshua 21:11-13 · World English Bible
“Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel wholeheartedly.”
Joshua 14:13-14 · World English Bible
“to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah, and its pasture lands around it; but the fields of the city and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh.”
1 Chronicles 6:55-56 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Joshua 21

Joshua 21: Nothing failed

The tribe with no land asked, and was given forty-eight cities spread through every tribe, by lot, just as the LORD commanded by Moses (21:2, 21:8, 21:41). Then the book sums itself up in three verses and one Hebrew picture: of all the good the LORD had spoken, not one word fell. "All came to pass" (21:45).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions