דברי הימים א, פרק ו׳, פסוק ל״ט

The Tribe of Levi stood apart from the rest of the nation, receiving no standard territory in the Land of Israel. Instead, God Himself served as their inheritance. Because their lives were entirely devoted to holy work—with the Levites leading the singing and the Priests offering the sacrifices—they were provided with specific cities drawn from the lands of the other tribes in exchange for their dedicated service [רד״ק].

These designated settlements were specially prepared and allocated for the Priests and Levites [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The exact nature of these living quarters is understood in different ways; they are viewed either as respectable, palace-like residences [מצודת ציון] or as more modest encampments of tents surrounded by protective fences [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A record of these cities parallels a similar account found in the Book of Joshua [רש״י, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. However, the names of the cities often differ between the two records. This discrepancy stems from the original casting of lots during the era of Joshua. At that time, several of the designated cities remained under Canaanite control, prompting the temporary assignment of alternate cities until the original ones could be fully conquered [רד״ק].

The distribution of these cities was determined by a lottery system among the Israelites. In this process, a specific order of priority was established. The sons of Aaron, belonging to the Kohath family, were granted the first rights. They were the very first to be drawn in the lottery, and consequently, they received their allotted cities before anyone else [רש״י, מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ].