יהושע י״ד:א׳-ה׳

אשר נחלו אותם. אשר הנחילו אותם:

That were apportioned to them. They caused them to inherit [their portions].

כי היו בני יוסף שני מטות. תחת שבט לוי:

The descendants of Yoseif were two tribes. In place of the tribe of Levi.¹Moshe and Yehoshua were commanded that the Levi’im were not to be given a portion of the land. The land was to be divided only among the other eleven tribes. The children of Menashe and Ephraim were counted as two tribes so that the land would be divided by twelve tribes. This came about through the will of Yaakov, who told Yoseif that his two sons, Ephraim and Menashe, would be considered as his own two son, Reuven and Shimon. (See Bereishis 48:7) This is mentioned here to explain how Yehoshua was to divide the land among nine and half tribes, when without Levi, there would be only eight and a half. We are told therefore that Menashe and Ephraim were counted as two tribes, thus this would compensate for the omission of Levi.