A common misinterpretation is to see this as proof that God failed to deliver on His promise of the land, ignoring that the conquest depended on Israel's obedience, or to promote modern pacifism by suggesting peaceful coexistence with enemies is ideal, overlooking the biblical pattern where tolerating Canaanite inhabitants led to idolatry and divine judgment as detailed in subsequent books like Judges.
Joshua 15:63
King James Version (1769)
63 As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.
This passage reveals the tribe of Judah's failure to fully conquer Jerusalem by driving out the Jebusites, who continued to dwell there alongside the Israelites up to the time of writing, highlighting Israel's incomplete obedience to God's command to possess the land entirely and foreshadowing future spiritual compromises and conflicts arising from such leniency.