Bible Study With Jairus - Numbers 35

Levitical Cities: An Enlarged Replica of the Tabernacle

The first few verses of Numbers 35 present an interesting paradox. Numbers 35:4 says, "The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around." However, verse five says, "You shall measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities."
Which is it? One thousand or two thousand? These verses have puzzled rabbis and interpreters through the ages. The complicated explanations are too complex to include here.

The Holy Spirit showed me that the size, design, and layout of the cities of the Levites were probably proportional to the dimensions of the Tabernacle's Holy of Holies and sanctuary. The tabernacle's Holy of Holies and sanctuary was 10 X 30, and I surmise that the city pasturelands may have been 3000 X 1000.