Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Chronicles 6:56-81

"but the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge, Hebron; Libnah also with its suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs, and Hilen with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, and Ashan with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; and out of the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its suburbs, and Allemeth with its suburbs, and Anathoth with its suburbs. All their cities throughout their families were thirteen cities. And unto the rest of the sons of Kohath [were given] by lot, out of the family of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten cities. And to the sons of Gershom, according to their families, out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. Unto the sons of Merari [were given] by lot, according to their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. And the children of Israel gave to the Levites the cities with their suburbs. And they gave by lot out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, and out of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, these cities which are mentioned by name. And some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their borders out of the tribe of Ephraim. And they gave unto them the cities of refuge, Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim with its suburbs; Gezer also with its suburbs, and Jokmeam with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs, and Aijalon with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its suburbs, and Bileam with its suburbs, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath. Unto the sons of Gershom [were given], out of the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, and Ashtaroth with its suburbs; and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kedesh with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, and Ramoth with its suburbs, and Anem with its suburbs; and out of the tribe of Asher, Mashal with its suburbs, and Abdon with its suburbs, and Hukok with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, and Hammon with its suburbs, and Kiriathaim with its suburbs. Unto the rest of [the Levites], the sons of Merari, [were given], out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmono with its suburbs, Tabor with its suburbs; and beyond the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, [were given them], out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the wilderness with its suburbs, and Jahzah with its suburbs, and Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; and out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, and Heshbon with its suburbs, and Jazer with its suburbs." — 1 Chronicles 6:56-81 (ASV)

The writer evidently had Joshua 21 before him, which he followed closely in its content. In some cases, he perhaps modernized the ancient names (1 Chronicles 6:58, 60, 72, etc.); in a few cases, he substituted an entirely new name for the old one—probably the modern name for the ancient site (1 Chronicles 6:70, 77).

At one time, it seems his intention was to list only the cities of the priests and to be content with stating just the number of the rest. His account was then concluded and summarized in 1 Chronicles 6:64. However, afterward, either he or a later writer thought it best to add the information from Joshua regarding the cities that were not priestly but merely Levitical. The passage in 1 Chronicles 6:65–81 was then added.

The entire account has suffered significantly from corruption. In the first list, two names—Juttah and Gibeon—have dropped out. It is necessary to restore them to complete the number of thirteen cities (1 Chronicles 6:60). In the second list (1 Chronicles 6:67–70), there is also an omission of two cities, Eltekeh and Gibbethon, which are needed to make up the number ten (1 Chronicles 6:61). The third list is complete, though some of the names are very different from those in Joshua. In the fourth list, two names are again missing: Jokneam and Kartah.

1 Chronicles 6:61

Unto the sons of Kohath who were left—that is, to those of them who were not priests.

Out of the half-tribe... ten cities—The half-tribe furnished only two cities (1 Chronicles 6:70). It is therefore evident that something has fallen out of the text. We can supply from Joshua the words out of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and before out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

1 Chronicles 6:77

Unto the rest of the children of Merari—A better translation is, “To the rest, the children of Merari.” This means “to the remainder of the Levites, who were descendants of Merari,” since the other two branches, the Kohathites and the Gershomites, have been dealt with previously.