Joshua 16King James Version
The inheritance of Ephraim. A shorter chapter, tracing the borders of the tribe. The Canaanites of Gezer remain among them and become forced laborers.
The territory of Ephraim is defined, with a southern boundary shared with Judah and a northern boundary touching Manasseh. The chapter ends with a note that Gezer's Canaanites were not expelled but put under tribute, another failure to complete the full herem.
Partial obedience is a form of disobedience. Putting Canaanites under tribute rather than driving them out is the first compromise that will compound over centuries.
verse 10: "And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute." The text is matter-of-fact; the consequences will not be.
Ephraim's territory occupies the central hill country of Canaan, the heartland of what will later be called the kingdom of Israel. Gezer sits at the foothills of the Shephelah where the land transitions from hill country to coastal plain, a commercial crossroads. In 1400 BC its Canaanite population continues farming and trading, now paying a portion to Ephraimite overseers. Nobody writes it down as a problem yet.
Ephraim, the larger of Joseph's two sons and the dominant northern tribe; Manasseh, whose territory borders Ephraim to the north; the Canaanites of Gezer, who survive by becoming a labor class within Ephraimite territory.
Gezer controls the main road from the coast to Jerusalem and the hill country. Letting its Canaanite population remain under tribute is tactically convenient and spiritually corrosive. Gezer will appear repeatedly in Israelite history, eventually given to Solomon as a dowry from Pharaoh. The Canaanites remaining in Ephraim set a precedent that accelerates syncretism in the north.
The chapter is brief and largely geographic, but verse 10 lands with a flat weight. The word 'tribute' does not sound like a failure. It sounds like pragmatism. That is precisely the problem.
1And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Bethel,
2And goeth out from Bethel to Luz, and passeth along unto the borders of Archi to Ataroth,
3And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti, unto the coast of Bethhoron the nether, and to Gezer: and the goings out thereof are at the sea.
4So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
5And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper;
6And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanathshiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah;
7And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan.
8The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families.
9And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
10And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.