Ver. 10. And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, &c.— Gezer was upon the sea-coast, in the district retained by the Philistines. Judges 1:29.
But the Canaanites—serve under tribute— Grotius, in his commentary upon these words, thinks that the Gezerites, when become tributaries, were forced to receive the positive laws which God had given to Abraham and Noah, and which tended to exclude all idolatry. But in another part of his works, that great critic observes, that the Gezerites were spared, as, without doubt, they surrendered immediately on being summoned. He observes the same of the Gergesenes, who remained even in the time of Jesus Christ. Matthew 8:28. "This people," says he, "had surrendered from the first; for which reason no mention is made of them in the numbering of the enemy-nations. Deuteronomy 20:17 and ch. Joshua 11:1." See de B. & P. lib. 2: cap. 13 sect. 4 n. 2 and Barbeyrac's note on the place. For the rest, it is well known, that the city of Gezer and its inhabitants were destroyed by Solomon, after the conquest made of it by the king of Egypt, in order to give it as a portion to his daughter on her marriage with that prince. 1 Kings 9:16.