Catholic Commentary on Joshua 16

"They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim." (Joshua 16:10)

Ephraim's Inheritance and Partial Failure

Joseph's descendants receive their allotment: Ephraim in chapter 16, the other half-tribe of Manasseh in chapter 17. Ephraim's territory is described with its boundaries and towns. But the chapter ends with a compromising note: They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labour. The incomplete obedience, the Canaanites kept as servants rather than driven out as commanded, is the early symptom of the disease that will corrupt Israel in Judges. They received the benefit of Canaanite labour while violating the divine command.

The Catechism identifies this kind of compromise, the toleration of what God commanded to be removed because it seems useful, as the root of apostasy: the things kept for their convenience will eventually become the things that draw the people toward their gods (CCC 2113). Gezer's Canaanites remained, and the tolerated Canaanites became the teachers of Baal worship to the very tribe that should have driven them out.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the Canaanites kept as servants became the teachers of idolatry. The things you keep for their usefulness while knowing they should be removed always exact the same price eventually. The cost of incomplete obedience is paid later, in the tribe's apostasy rather than the general's inconvenience. Drive out what was commanded to be driven out.

Prayer

Lord God, give us the courage to complete the task even when incomplete obedience seems convenient. The Canaanites kept for labour became the destroyers of faith. Deliver us from every tolerated compromise. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

16
Ephraim’s Inheritance
1 The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness that goes up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel. 2 It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz)* 16:2 LXX (See also Joshua 18:13); Hebrew from Bethel to Luz and proceeded to the border of the Archites in Ataroth. 3 Then it descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, and it ended at the Sea.† 16:3 That is, the Mediterranean Sea, also called the Great Sea; also in verses 6 and 8
 
4 So Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, received their inheritance. 5 This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans:
 
The border of their inheritance went from Ataroth-addar in the east to Upper Beth-horon 6 and out toward the Sea. From Michmethath on the north it turned eastward toward Taanath-shiloh and passed by it to Janoah on the east. 7 From Janoah it went down to Ataroth and Naarah, and then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah the border went westward to the Brook of Kanah and ended at the Sea.
 
This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, 9 along with all the cities and villages set apart for the descendants of Ephraim within the inheritance of Manasseh. 10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.

*16:2 16:2 LXX (See also Joshua 18:13); Hebrew from Bethel to Luz

†16:3 16:3 That is, the Mediterranean Sea, also called the Great Sea; also in verses 6 and 8

Public Domain