The mention of Hebron and Caleb provides us with an insight into exactly what it meant for a town to become a Levitical city. Hebron remained the possession of Caleb and his descendants but the Levites were granted permission to live in the town and graze their flocks in the land immediately outside of the town.1 As a result it is generally believed that the Levites lived in these towns without actually owning them.2
11 They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it.