The sons of Joseph, divided into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, also received land. But they did not drive out the Canaanites; they merely subjected them to tribute...
The sons of Joseph, divided into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, also received land. But they did not drive out the Canaanites; they merely subjected them to tribute. They hardly acted this way for humanitarian reasons; they simply lacked the strength to displace the Canaanites completely. That in itself would not be a disaster: strength, military or physical, is not always a sign of being right. More regrettably, the new inhabitants of the promised land would not always possess the spiritual strength to reject paganism, whose bearers the conquered Canaanites remained. Meanwhile, we too need fortitude today, for we also live alongside paganism, and in its various forms it still tries to overcome us by entering our minds.