Joshua 21 · a question people ask
What were the Levites to do in their cities?
Joshua 21 gives only what the Levites asked for: "cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for our livestock" (21:2). It doesn't say what they did there. Other passages speak of the Levites' work, and Christians put these together in two main ways, and the two can be held together.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Homes near the people, for teaching
Those who hold this view note Moses' blessing of Levi, "They shall teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law" (Deuteronomy 33:10), and a later time when Levites and priests went out with the king's princes, and they "taught in Judah, having the book of the LORD’s law with them" (2 Chronicles 17:9). On this reading, cities spread through every tribe put the Levites among all Israel.
Deuteronomy 33:10 · 2 Chronicles 17:7-9
Homes to come from, to serve
Those who hold this view note that Deuteronomy speaks of a Levite who "comes from any of your gates out of all Israel where he lives" to "the place which the LORD shall choose", and "then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God" (Deuteronomy 18:6-7). On this reading the cities were where the Levites lived, with their livestock (21:2), and from where they went up to serve.
Deuteronomy 18:6-7 · Joshua 21:2
The verses
“They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The LORD commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for our livestock.””