What does Judges 1:22 mean?

Judges moves on to report on another tribe's effort to conquer all the cities and peoples in their allotted territories. This tribe is referred to as the "house of Joseph." This is somewhat surprising, since there is no tribe of Joseph. Instead, Joseph is represented by two tribes named for his sons: Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:1–6). It seems the title "house of Joseph" here is meant to refer to Ephraim, specifically, since Manasseh is addressed individually later in the passage (Judges 1:27).

Ephraim launches an attack against the Canaanites living in the city at Bethel, a place the Canaanites called Luz. Bethel was a place of enormous importance to the Israelites. God has appeared to Jacob at Bethel, and Jacob had built a significant pillar there in honor of his meeting with God. Bethel literally means "house of God." The people of God would be highly motivated to capture and reclaim Bethel.