From H1644 (garash, to drive out). Literally 'a place of driving out' β the open area surrounding a city where livestock were driven to graze. In the Levitical city system, the migrash was the designated common land surrounding each of the 48 Levitical cities.
The migrash system reveals God's economic theology. The Levites received no tribal inheritance of farmland β God Himself was their inheritance (Numbers 18:20). Instead, they received cities with surrounding pasturelands. This created a deliberate dependence on God and on the tithes of the other tribes. The theological principle is radical: those who serve God full-time are sustained by the generosity of God's people. This becomes the New Testament pattern for supporting ministers (1 Cor 9:13-14).