Bible Synapse
Were Aijalon and Gath-rimmon given out of Dan or out of Ephraim?
Hard question · Israel’s history: Joshua to Esther · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
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The rest of the Kohathite Levites received ten cities from Ephraim, from Dan and from the half tribe of Manasseh.
And the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.
“Out of the tribe of Dan” they received four cities: Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Aijalon and Gath-rimmon.
And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs, Aijalon with her suburbs, Gath–rimmon with her suburbs; four cities.
Chronicles also gives these Kohathites ten cities.
And unto the sons of Kohath, which were left of the family of that tribe, were cities given out of the half tribe, namely, out of the half tribe of Manasseh, by lot, ten cities.
They had cities “out of the tribe of Ephraim”: Shechem, Gezer, Jokmeam, Beth-horon, Aijalon and Gath-rimmon.
And the residue of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their coasts out of the tribe of Ephraim. And they gave unto them, of the cities of refuge, Shechem in mount Ephraim with her suburbs; they gave also Gezer with her suburbs, And Jokmeam with her suburbs, and Beth–horon with her suburbs, And Aijalon with her suburbs, and Gath–rimmon with her suburbs:
The objection
Joshua 21 lists Aijalon and Gath-rimmon among four Levite cities given “out of the tribe of Dan”. 1 Chronicles 6, giving the same cities to the same Levite families, places them straight after the cities taken “out of the tribe of Ephraim” and never mentions Dan. Critics ask which tribe gave them.
The answer
Both books agree that Aijalon and Gath-rimmon went to the Kohathite Levites. The only question is which heading they stand under, and Chronicles itself shows that its list has lost a line. Both books say that this group of Kohathites received ten cities, from Ephraim, Dan and half Manasseh (Joshua 21:5; 1 Chronicles 6:61). Joshua names all ten: four from Ephraim, four from Dan (Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Aijalon and Gath-rimmon) and two from Manasseh. Chronicles, as we now have it, names only eight. The two that are missing are exactly Eltekeh and Gibbethon, and with them goes the heading ‘out of the tribe of Dan’.
So Chronicles has not moved Aijalon and Gath-rimmon into Ephraim. At some point in the copying of Chronicles, a line reading ‘and out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs’ dropped out. That left the last two cities of Dan standing straight after the cities of Ephraim. Keil and Delitzsch, Clarke, Barnes’ Notes and Ellicott all read the passage in this way. The slip belongs to the copying of Chronicles. The original writing is held to be without error, and the full list of Dan’s four cities survives in Joshua 21:23–24.
Other answers Christians give
Dan’s towns later counted with Ephraim
Some suggest that the Chronicler’s list follows later conditions. Dan could not hold much of its land, and many Danites moved north (Judges 1:34; 18:1). The house of Joseph, to which Ephraim belonged, held Aijalon and made its Amorites pay tribute (Judges 1:35), Aijalon later appears among Benjamite families (1 Chronicles 8:13), and Rehoboam fortified it among the cities of Judah and Benjamin (2 Chronicles 11:10). On this view the towns stand under Ephraim because that is where they were reckoned later. The missing count of ten makes the copying explanation the more likely one.
Still open
Whether the line was lost by a later copyist of Chronicles or was already missing in the record the Chronicler used cannot now be known. Dan is also left out of 1 Chronicles 6:61 and of the Chronicler’s tribal lists (1 Chronicles 4–8), and some have suggested that he passed over Dan on purpose; Ellicott thought the gaps more likely due to his sources or his copyists.
From the classic commentators
In the second list 1 Chronicles 6:67-70 there is likewise an omission of two cities, Eltekeh and Gibbethon, which are wanted to make up the number ten 1 Chronicles 6:61.Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, on 1 Chronicles 6