Besides, from the time of Joshua there is
not a historical trace of the existence of the Levitical cities.
Quite a number of them were in the days of the judges and down
to the early monarchy still in the hands of the Canaanites,--
Gibeon, Shechem, Gezer, Taanach; some perhaps may even have so
continued permanently. Those on the other hand which passed
into the possession of the Israelites at no time belonged
to the Levites. Shechem, Hebron, Ramoth, were the capital cities
of Ephraim, Judah, and Gilead; and Gibeon, Gezer, Heshbon were in
like manner important but by no means ecclesiastical towns. In
the Deuteronomic period the Levites were scattered throughout
Judah in such a manner that each locality had its own Levites or
Levite; nowhere did they live separated from the rest of the
world in compact masses together, for they made their living by
sacrificing for others, and without a community they could not
exercise their calling. Some indeed possessed land and heritage;
such were at an earlier period the Silonic family at
Gibeath-Phineas, Amaziah at Bethel, and Abiathar at Anathoth, and
at a later period Jeremiah, also at Anathoth.
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