Matthew Poole and continuators on Joshua 17:11

11 And Manasseh had in Issachar, and in Asher , Beth-shean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, even three countreys

Either 1. Bordering upon them, as in Asher is taken v. 10. and as Aarons Rod is said to be in the Ark, i. e. close by it, Heb. 9. 4. or 2. Properly in them, as Ephraim had some Cities in the Tribe of Manasseh, Jos. 16. 9. and as it was not unusual, when the place allotted to any Tribe was too narrow for it, and the next too large, to give away part from the larger to the less portion; nay sometimes o[illegible: 1+ letters]e whole Tribe was taken into another; as Simeon was into Iudah's Portion, when it was found too large for Iudah, Jos. 19. 9.

Not the places onely, but the people; whom, contrary to Gods Command, they spared and used for Servants, whom therefore they are said to have or possess.

This may be referred either to some, to wit, the three last places, or to all the places named in this verse, which are here said, either to have three Countreys or Tracts of Land belonging to them, or to be in three several Countreys or Portions, as they seem to have been, some in Issachar, and some in Asher, and yet both belonging to Manasseh. Or, the words may be rendred, the third part of that Countrey; for the Hebrew word is of the Singular Number, and the Article seems emphatical; and so the meaning may be, That the Cities and Towns here mentioned are a third part of that Country, i. e. of that part of Issachars and Ashers Portion, in which those places lay.