Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 7:28-29

"And their possessions and habitations were Beth-el and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Azzah and the towns thereof; and by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these dwelt the children of Joseph the son of Israel." — 1 Chronicles 7:28-29 (ASV)

THE BOUNDS OF EPHRAIM AND WEST MANASSEH (1 Chronicles 7:28–29).

Compare 1 Chronicles 6:54 and following, where a list of the cities of the Levites is similarly added to their tribal registers.

And their possessions. —Hebrew: and their domain and their seats were Bethel and her daughters; “their domain,” that is, the domain of both divisions of the tribe of Joseph.

Bethel —originally assigned to Benjamin (Joshua 18:22), belonged later to the northern kingdom. The present list appears therefore to be younger than the disruption of Solomon’s empire.

Naaran, or Naarah (Naapá) (Joshua 16:7) was a town north-east of Jericho. Gezer lay on the southwest border of Ephraim (Joshua 16:3), Shechem (Nablûs, Νεάπολις) on the north. Gaza: so the LXX, Vulgate (Aza which represents the Hebrew ‘Azzâh, i.e., Gaza), and Targum; but a great number of manuscripts and seventeen editions read Ayyah, a place not mentioned elsewhere, but doubtless lying on the north-west border of Ephraim.

And by the borders of the children of Manasseh. —Literally: and upon the hands of the sons of Manasseh, a favourite phrase with the chronicler, occurring nine times in Chronicles and once in Ezra (See Note on 1 Chronicles 6:31).

The four cities lay within the territory of Issachar and Asher but were assigned to Manasseh (Joshua 17:11). They mark the northward marches of the two houses of Joseph, as the cities of 1 Chronicles 7:28 mark the southward.

They long withstood the Israelite occupation (Joshua 17:12–16; see also Judges 5:19: Then fought the kings of Canaan, in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo.).