John Calvin suggested that the Levites had initially been "overlooked" in the allocation of land on entry to the Promised Land, until the Levites brought forward a reminder of the divine commandment, making this an example of how: :...it is apt to happen, every one being so attentive in looking after his own affairs that even brethren are forgotten. It was certainly disgraceful to the people that they required to be pulled by the ear, and put in mind of what the Lord had clearly ordered respecting the Levites. However, the writer of the
Pulpit Commentary disagreed: :We are not to suppose, with Calvin, that the Levites had been overlooked. Such a supposition is little in keeping with the devout spirit of him who now directed the affairs of the Israelites, who had been minister to Moses the Levite, and had but lately been concerned with
Eleazar, the high priest, in making a public recognition of that God to whose service the Levites had been specially set apart. The delay in appointing to the Levites their cities arose from the nature of the arrangement which had to be made for the Levitical cities. This "arrangement" was the fulfilment of
Jacob's prophecy in
Genesis 49:5-7 -
I will scatter them (Simeon and Levi) in Israel - which was a punishment for Simeon and Levi's massacre of the men of
Shechem. The Levites could not be scattered amongst the cities of the other tribes until the other tribes had all been appointed to their territories after the entry into the Promised Land (Joshua 18–19).
Matthew Henry commented that Jacob's condemnation of Levi became a blessing for Israel: :The sentence as it respects Levi was turned into a blessing. This tribe performed an acceptable service in their zeal against the worshippers of the
golden calf (
Exodus 32:26). Being set apart to God as priests, they were in that character scattered through the nation of Israel. == References ==