Joshua 21:41

Forty and eight cities. In the census of Israel recorded in Num. 26:62 the tribe of Levi is numbered at 23,000. It has been thought that proportionately they received more than any other tribe. However, it should be remembered that all the cities of the other tribes were probably not named in the lists under each tribe, whereas the Levites were restricted to these 48 cities and a few hundred acres of pastureland around each. The rest had large territories belonging to their cities.

It has been suggested that each of the four divisions of the house of Levi became a bond to cement 3 of the 12 tribes together. In the case of the Gershonites the two sides of Jordan are bound together, two on the west of Jordan united to one on the east. The Merarites were used to connect two tribes on the east of Jordan with one tribe on the west, and the southeast of the Israelitish territory with the north. Thus they were all knit together that they might grow up together in God. The Levites were divided in Israel, but in their division they became a bond of union, bringing the tribes of Israel together and joining all of them to their God.

When not engaged in performing the religious duties which were apportioned among them, the Levites were the teachers of the young; the readers, transcribers, and expounders of the law; the annalists and chroniclers who preserved the memory of great events and distinguished personages. They were to bring religion into everyday life, mutually helping one another and their neighbors to realize the unseen, and to attain God’s standard.