The meaning of Jebus; Jebusi; Jebusite in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
je'-bus, jeb'-u-si, jeb'-u-zit (yebhuc, ha-yebhuci): "Jebus" is an old name for Jerusalem (Judges 19:10-11; I Chronicles 4:5 parallel II Samuel 5:6-9, "the same is Jerus"; see preceding article). "Jebusi" (literally, "Jebusite") is also used as a name for the city in the King James Version (Joshua 18:16, Joshua 18:28; compare Joshua 15:8); the Revised Version (British and American) correctly renders "Jebusite" (see JERUSALEM). "Jebusites," for the people (in the King James Version Genesis 15:21; Exodus 3:8, Exodus 3:17, etc.), does not occur in Hebrew in the plural; hence, in the Revised Version (British and American) is always rendered in the singular, "Jebusite." The "Jebusite" is said in Genesis 10:16; I Chronicles 1:14 to be the 3rd son of Canaan, i.e. of the country of Canaan. Elsewhere he represents a tribe separate from the Canaanites. He stands between Heth and the Amorite (compare Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3; Ezekiel 16:3, Ezekiel 16:15). In the lists of the peoples inhabiting Palestine the "Jebusite" is always placed last, a fact indicative, probably, of their smaller number.
To what race the Jebusites belonged is doubtful. Their name does not seem Semitic, and they do not make their appearance till after the patriarchal period.
The original name of Jerusalem was Babylonian, Uru-Salim, "the city of Salim," shortened into Salem in Genesis 14:18 and in the inscriptions of the Egyptian kings Ramses II and Ramses III. In the Tell el-Amarna Letters (1400 BC) Jerusalem is still known as Uru-Salim, and its king bears a Hittite name, implying that it was at the time in the possession of the Hittites. His enemies, however, were closing around him, and one of the tablets shows that the city was eventually captured and its king slain. These enemies would seem to have been the Jebusites, since it is after this period that the name "Jebus" makes its appearance for the first time in the Old Testament (Judges 19:10-11).
The Jebusite king at the time of the conquest was Adoni-zedek, who met his death at Beth-boron (Joshua 10:1 ff.; in Joshua 10:5 the word "Amorite" is used in its Babylonian sense to denote the inhabitants of Canaan generally). The Jebusites were a mountain tribe (Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3). Their capital "Jebus" was taken by the men of Judah and burned with fire (Jdg. 18), but they regained possession of, and held, the fortress till the time of David (II Samuel 5:6 ff.).
When Jerusalem was taken by David, the lives and property of its Jebusite inhabitants were spared, and they continued to inhabit the temple-hill, David and his followers settling in the new City of David on Mt. Zion (Joshua 15:8, Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:21; Judges 19:11). And as Araunah is called "king" (II Samuel 24:23), we may conclude that their last ruler also had been lowed to live. His name is non-Sem, and the various spellings of it (compare I Chronicles 21:15, "Ornan") indicate that the Hebrew writers had some difficulty in pronouncing it. The Jebusites seem ultimately to have blended with the Israelite population.
James Orr
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