The emphasis on pasturelands is likely to affirm that the instructions given through Moses in Numbers 35:1–5 have all been adhered to. For the Levites, their pastureland was quite small, being only the area immediately outside the city walls.1 In a subsistence culture, this would certainly not provide them with enough resources to live off the land or even grow their herds.2 They would be dependent on the other tribes to care and provide for them (see Joshua 13:14; Numbers 18:20–24; Numbers 35:1–3; Deuteronomy 10:8–10; Deuteronomy 14:27).
41 The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands.