Numbers 35:4, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the law providing cities for the Levites and cities of refuge for one who has taken life unintentionally, in connection with which admission to refuge and later trial are set forth. The Levites were given no tribal territory of their own, but received forty-eight cities scattered among the tribes of Israel as their inheritance and as homes from which to perform priestly duties. Six of those Levitical cities were appointed as cities of refuge.

The land set apart around each city reached outward from the city wall a thousand cubits on every side. By that measurement each Levitical district comprised about one thousand acres. The suburbs are reckoned at about fifteen acres for each Levite, affording room for family gardens and vineyards while the remainder was devoted to grazing.

The large tract was not intended for financial profit but to secure good health and a clear mind for direct contact with the people, placing religious workers near those they served so that their influence for good could reach throughout Israel, and thus their scattering, once a curse, became a blessing. The Levites dwelt in these cities two weeks out of every three and raised cattle that supplied all the daily national offerings, so that whether at the sanctuary or in their cities they were constantly employed in the interests of the sanctuary work. The thousand cubits measured outward from the wall marked the boundary of safety for the slayer dwelling in a city of refuge, within which he had the freedom of the city, while by going beyond it he risked his life.