Ephraim's Territory

"And 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, And goeth out from Bethel to Luz." The border runs to lower Beth-horon, Gezer and the sea.

Ephraim's border is traced from Ataroth-addar to upper Beth-horon, Michmethah, Taanath-shiloh, Janohah, Naarath and Jericho, and west to the brook Kanah and the sea. Some of Ephraim's towns lie inside Manasseh's territory.

"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."

Gezer

Tel Gezer guarded the road from the coast into the hills. It was a major Canaanite city with a row of large standing stones (Middle Bronze Age) and is named in the Amarna letters and on the Merneptah Stele ("Gezer is captured"). 1 Kings 9:16 says Pharaoh captured and burned Gezer and gave it to Solomon as a dowry; Solomon rebuilt it. The Gezer Calendar, a 10th-century BC school exercise listing the farming months, was found there. Gezer's archaeology is rich, but it does not show which group lived there under "tribute."

"Unto this day"

The phrase appears often in Joshua (4:9; 5:9; 7:26; 15:63; 16:10). It shows the narrator writing after the events, for readers who could see the stones, heaps and peoples described. If 1 Kings 9:16 records Gezer's change of status, the note in Joshua was written before then, or describes a different situation.