The Failure to Complete the Conquest

Manasseh does not drive out several cities because the Canaanites are determined to remain. When Israel grows stronger, they impose forced labor instead of removing them completely.

A²⁷t that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. ²⁸When Israel became stronger, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely.

Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali all fail to drive out the inhabitants in their territories. The result is a mixed settlement, with Canaanites remaining among them and sometimes serving as forced laborers.

²⁹Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer. ³⁰Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced laborers. ³¹Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob. ³²So the Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out. ³³Naphtali failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath. So the Naphtalites also lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served them as forced laborers.

The Amorites press Dan into the hill country and keep them from the plain. Though Joseph later subjects some Amorites to forced labor, Amorite territory still stands clearly defined.

³⁴The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain. ³⁵And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph grew in strength, they pressed the Amorites into forced labor. ³⁶And the border of the Amorites extended from the Ascent of Akrabbim to Sela and beyond.