1. Acts 4:37 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why did Joseph own a field if he was a Levite?

Acts 4:37 (ESV)

37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

According to the laws of the old covenant, Levites were not permitted to own land in Israel (Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 10:9; Joshua 21:1–41). They were, however, given certain cities to dwell in along with their pasture lands (Joshua 14:4). In these cities they came to own some of the houses (see Leviticus 25:32) and also the pastureland itself. As confirmation of this consider Jeremiah 32:6–8 where the Lord himself tells Jeremiah (a priest from the tribe of Levi) to buy the field of his uncle in Anathoth. Anathoth was in the land of Benjamin, land given to the sons of Aaron as part of Levi’s inheritance (see Joshua 21:18). It is thus likely that Joseph owned a field which was part of his family’s Levitical city inheritance and that he sold this field to help provide for those in need.1