דברי הימים א, פרק ו׳, פסוק מ״ו

The assignment of residential cities to the Tribe of Levi was carried out with perfect order, carefully distinguishing between the different roles and ranks within the tribe. Within the family of Kohath, a clear division is made between the priests and the rest of the relatives. Since the priests, the descendants of Aaron, already received their portion, attention turns to the remaining members of the Kohath family who were not chosen for the priesthood.

The exact identity of the tribe from which these remaining families received their cities is a matter of discussion. The most straightforward understanding is that it simply refers to their own Tribe of Levi [רש"י]. However, another perspective suggests it points specifically to the Tribe of Ephraim. Because Ephraim was a complete tribe, it serves as a natural contrast to the half-tribe of Manasseh that provided the next portion of land [מלבי"ם]. This land came from the half of Manasseh that settled on the western side of the Jordan River [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A lottery was then used to determine the exact ten cities that would be handed over to the Kohathites [מצודת דוד].

The primary approach among commentators is that the historical account is intentionally brief. The ten cities were not taken exclusively from the half-tribe of Manasseh. Instead, they also included cities from the territories of Ephraim and Dan, a detail expanded upon in the Book of Joshua [מצודת דוד, רלב"ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Historically and geographically, the tribe of Dan did not successfully conquer its original land. As a result, the cities were practically taken only from the neighboring territories of Ephraim and Manasseh. Even though the lottery selected ten cities, the Kohath family ultimately received only eight, as two of the cities belonging to Dan were never secured [מלבי"ם].