“The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 4. Paces. This is equivalent to 2000 cubits, (verse 5,) or a sabbath day’s journey. Selden, Jur. iii. 9. S. Jerom. q. 9. ad algas. Hebrew retains the same word, amma, “cubit,” in both verses: but some copies of the Septuagint Philo, and Josephus, have “2000 cubits,” ( Calmet.) which Dr. Wall and Kennicott deem to be the original reading. Bible.—Bonfrere would also correct the Hebrew by the Vulgate as a pace among the Greeks consisted of three feet, and a cubit of half that quantity. The geometric pace of the Romans contained five feet, and the sacred cubit of Villalpand half as much; so that 2000 sacred cubits make 1000 geometric paces. Thus the Vulgate is perfectly consistent with itself. Menochius.—Some imagine that Moses speaks of the common cubit here and of the sacred one, which was doubly as large, v 5. But this is not probable; and the distinction of cubits, ( Calmet.) at least in his days, ( Bible.) is very uncertain. Perhaps Moses may first specify the depth of this space of ground from the wall, and afterwards its length, which would be doubly greater. Calmet. See Sevius on Jos. xxi. q. 8, and so forth—The semidiameter was probably 1000 cubits. D.
A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.