These verses seem to point to an unwillingness or inability (not asking God for help?) to get the job done. It definitely came back to bite them.
I think there is an analogy when it comes to how we view sin in our own lives.
Joshua 15:63 ESV
[63] But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.
Joshua 16:10 ESV
[10] However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor.
Joshua 17:12-13 ESV
[12] Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. [13] Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
