Joshua 21:34
And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs, And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,
The forty-eight cities assigned to Levi provide the setting to which this allotment belongs. Within that arrangement the families of Merari are counted as the rest of the Levites. They received no separate land inheritance of their own as a tribe. Their portion came instead as cities situated within the territories of the other tribes.
The naming of Jokneam with its suburbs and Kartah with its suburbs, out of Zebulun, is one instance of that pattern. By placing Merarite households in Zebulunite territory it shows Levi settled in enclaves rather than in a compact domain. In this way the distribution scattered Levi throughout the land.