Shared ground
Joshua 16:10 closes Ephraim’s border description with a reality on the ground: Ephraim did not remove the Canaanites in Gezer. The text then reports two connected outcomes: those Canaanites continued living inside Ephraim’s space “to this day,” and they “became” people assigned to forced labor.
What is explicit is the sequence the verse gives: non-removal → continued residence → labor status. The verse presents an ongoing situation known to the narrator, not just a momentary event.
Where interpretation differs (only where needed)
Some readers treat “servants to do forced labor” mainly as state-like labor/tribute imposed on a subject population. Others read it more as household-level servitude within Ephraim’s society. The verse itself does not specify the exact mechanism.
There is also a smaller question about what “to this day” measures: it can be read as (1) simply “at the time this account was written,” or (2) as a clue that the situation lasted long enough to matter for later Israelite history. The text doesn’t date the narrator, so the phrase cannot be pinned down precisely from this verse alone.
Why the disagreement exists
The verse describes results but not the administrative details: it names Gezer, says the Canaanites dwell “in the midst,” and notes forced labor, but it does not explain whether that labor was tax-tribute, seasonal work, or personal servitude. Likewise, “to this day” signals the narrator’s present without telling us exactly when that “present” is.
What this passage clearly contributes
This verse adds a sober footnote to the land-allotment material: receiving an allotment did not automatically mean full control of every key site. It also shows one way Israelite groups managed unresolved enclaves—continued coexistence paired with subordination through forced labor. In the flow of Joshua, this kind of note supports the broader theme that God’s promises can be affirmed even while some settlements remain incomplete or contested (compare the book’s summary claim in Joshua 21:45).
