The Israelites were not able to drive out the Canaanites from their midst. Later, they weere more able, but instead they subjected them to hard labour. Instead of killing their Canaanites, they allowed them to live, and in the long run, they paid the price, for the Canaanites were a trap and a snare to the Israelites.
How like us! When we have sinful behaviours (and we all do!) we are commanded to crucify them, to put them to death. But, usually, we don't. We allow them to live, putting them 'to work'. We make our pride serve to override our sloth. We use our anger to get out of feeling lust. We use one sin to do the work of suppressing another, usually a lesser one. The result is that the 'bigger' sin grows, while the 'lesser' sin remains alive and in hiding. And both end up being a trap and a snare to us, thorns in our eyes that stop us from growing spiritually or full serving God.
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