Naphtali failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath. So the Naphtalites also lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served them as forced laborers.
We are here told upon what terms the rest of the tribes stood with the Canaanites that remained. I. Benjamin neglected to drive the Jebusites out of that part of the city of Jerusalem which fell to their lot, Jdg 1:21. Judah had set them a good example, and gained them great advantages by what they did (Jdg 1:9), but they did not follow the blow for want of resolution.
Commenting on Judges 1:21-36
Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath,.... Of which places See Gill on Jos 19:38, but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; in the same disgraceful manner as Asher did, owing to cowardice or sloth: nevertheless, the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, and of Bethanath, became tributaries unto them; these two cities did at length exert...
Jdg 1:33 Naphtali did not root out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath, two fortified towns, the situation of which is still unknown (see at Jos 19:38); so that this tribe also dwelt among the Canaanites, but did not make them tributary.