The Levitical cities

THE LEVITICAL CITIES, c. 975 to 940 B.C.

The list of Levitical cities should also be ascribed to the period of the United Monarchy. Only under David were all the towns of the list finally brought under Israelite control. After the division of the kingdom, the Levites abandoned their places in the north and migrated to Judah (2 Chr 11:13–14). Furthermore, even during Solomon’s reign, the towns on the plain of Acco were turned over to Hiram of Tyre (1 Kings 9:10–13). Gezer was not conquered but its indigenous population was subjected to forced labor after the Ephraimites had begun to occupy the surrounding territory. A pharaoh, probably Siamon, later conquered Gezer and slew the native Canaanites (1 Kings 9:16); this act of aggression against Israel evidently led to a stalemate and as a condition of the treaty negotiations that followed, Gezer was surrendered as a dowry for Pharaoh’s daughter when she married Solomon. That military confrontation must have taken place late in David’s reign or early in Solomon’s, or possibly while the younger man was co-regent with his aging father. The administrative functions of the Levites were still being established in the fortieth year of David’s reign (1 Chr 26:31b).

Article abstract from The Sacred Bridge