Miasta Lewickie w Zajordanii

Abstract

The Levitical cities of Transjordan, viz. Golan, Ashtaroth, Ramoth-Gilead, and Mahanaim, as well as Jazer and Heshbon, seem to have been garrison towns of the Kingdom of Israel at the border of the Aramaic kingdom of Damascus and near the capital city of the Ammonites. This view is confirmed by the role of the four Levitical cities on the “Reubenite” territory to the east of the Dead Sea, where they appear as military stations defending the border of the Omride kingdom from incursions of the desert people, and by the distribution of the Levitical cities between the fortresses of 2 Krn 11:6-10, where they seem to form a defence line on the border of the Kingdom of Judah. The Levites appear therefore as members of garrisons keeping watch over border towns, as confirmed bThetymology. There were other fortified places, like Gadara, which are not listed among the Levitical cities, possibly because they were no endangered sites at the frontier. The disappearance of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah obviously influenced the professional role of the Levitical families whose members first became guardians of the Temple and later assumed also other functions in the Temple service.