Numbers 35:4

Some have tried to explain the supposed contradiction between the 1,000 cubits (457 meters or 1,500 feet) and the 2,000 cubits (914 meters or 3,000 feet). One explanation is that the Hebrews thought of a town as a fixed center point. If so, the land around each town would form a square that measured 914 meters (3,000 feet) on each side.

Another explanation is that there is a difference between the smaller pastureland mentioned in Numbers 35:4 and the larger pastureland mentioned in 35:5.

Based on this text, some Jewish teachers later limited how far a person could walk on the Sabbath. They said a person could walk no more than 2,000 cubits (914 meters or 3,000 feet) from home.

The tribe of Levi did not receive its own land. So chapter 35 explains how they received 48 towns spread out among the lands of the other tribes (see Joshua 21; see also Leviticus 25:32–34; 1 Chronicles 13:2; 2 Chronicles 11:14).

During the wilderness journey, the Levites lived in the center of the Israelite camp (compare Numbers 2:17). In the promised land, they were to live among the other tribes. Their presence was meant to influence the people for good (see Deuteronomy 33:9–10; 2 Chronicles 17:7–9; 19:8–11; 35:3).

These towns and their pasturelands were not a separate homeland (compare Numbers 18:23; 26:62). They were only a small portion of the land of Canaan, divided among the other tribes.