Gath-rimmon

Gath-rimmon (meaning: the high wine-press) was a Levitical city assigned from the tribe of Dan for the residence and support of the Kohathite Levites (Joshua 19:45; Joshua 21:24; 1 Chronicles 6:69). It lay in the Dan territory near Joppa on the coastal plain, in the vicinity of other Danite cities. The Kohathite Levites received this and adjacent cities as their dwelling places from the Danite inheritance as part of the Mosaic provision for Levitical support across the tribal territories.

A second Gath-rimmon is mentioned in the tribal territory of Manasseh (Joshua 21:25), though some textual critics argue this may be a scribal duplication of the Danite Gath-rimmon or a variant name for the city Bileam/Ibleam. The existence of two cities bearing this name in different tribal territories is paralleled by other place names that recur across the tribal divisions. Gath-rimmon's designation as a Levitical city reflects the deliberate distribution of the covenant servants throughout Israel's tribal holdings, ensuring that the ministry of the Levites was accessible to all parts of the country.