“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor 6:16).
It was the Lord’s desire to infiltrate the whole land of Israel with His Word through His witnesses, the priests. Thus among all 12 tribes they were given cities with their “common-lands”—a ring of 1000 cubits of pasture that extended around each settlement. The immediate family of Aaron are mentioned first (1 Chron 6:54-60), and appropriately they were given cities in the two regions that bracketed Jerusalem—Judah to the south and Benjamin to the north. This would give the families of the priests ready access to the temple once it was built. Hopefully, they would also be a godly influence on the king and his family. You see this at its nadir when it was the high priests who coerced Jerusalem’s ruler to execute the Son of God! Now the rest of the chapter (vv 61-81) recounts how the other tribes hosted the families of the Levites. The tribes were required to donate strategically placed cities, including the cities of refuge (vv 55, 67, 71, 76, 78, 80), for the servants of the Lord when they were not at work in Jerusalem. We have the exception regarding Hebron explained in verse 56: “But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh.” Yes, the man who wholly followed the Lord finds himself in good company! The one who drove out Anak’s sons has new neighbors move in, his property contiguous with the priests of the Lord. But there is another exception in the chapter, this time an unhappy one. There is no mention of Dan. Although originally they provided cities for the Kohathites ( Jos 21:23-24), it seems by this time their rampant idolatry was no place for God’s servants to live. May the Lord preserve us from missing blessing because we’re careless about idols (see 1 Jn 5:21).