What does Judges 1:27 mean?

The first chapter of Judges has reported on the success and failure of each tribe of Israel. Their mission was to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan from their allotted territories. Judah, Simeon, and Ephraim all experienced some success (Judges 1:17–20) but were incomplete in their effort to destroy or drive away the Canaanites. Benjamin failed completely. They could not force the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and so they lived among them (Judges 1:21).

Now the chapter concludes with a list of similar failures by most of the remaining tribes in their territories. They were unsuccessful in obeying God's command to devote all the Canaanites to destruction (Deuteronomy 20:16–17). God's purpose for this harsh process was to prevent the depraved evils of Canaanite culture from interfering with Israel (Deuteronomy 20:18).

The writer of Judges makes no comment as to exactly why these tribes of Israel failed. Much grief will come from their failure, beginning in the very next chapter. This has led to much speculation. It's possible the people gave only a halfhearted effort. They might have wavered in their confidence or relied too much on their own strength and not that of God. God might have stymied individual victories due to sin among the people. The following verse points out that the ultimate cause was the Israelites themselves: whether by indifference or lack of effort, they simply stopped short of their goal (Judges 1:28).

The writer starts this latest account with the tribe of Manasseh. The people of Manasseh failed to drive out the Canaanites in the five key cities in their allotted territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Canaanites persisted in and around Beth-Shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo, in the strategic heart of the Promised Land.