Jebusites

Biblical References

• Descendants of Canaan: In the Table of Nations in Genesis 10:15-16, the Jebusites appear among the descendants of Canaan.
• The Peoples of the Promised Land: In Genesis 15:21, Exodus 3:8, Deuteronomy 7:1, and elsewhere, the Jebusites are repeatedly listed among the peoples living in the land God promised to Abraham. In Numbers 13:29 the spies report that they dwell in the mountains.
• The Unconquered City: Joshua 15:63 and Judges 1:21 record that neither the tribe of Judah nor the tribe of Benjamin could drive out the Jebusites of Jerusalem, so the Jebusites lived alongside Israel. Joshua 15:8 and 18:28 identify the city with Jerusalem ("Jebusi, which is Jerusalem"). In Judges 19:10-12 a Levite is unwilling to stay in Jebus, calling it "the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel."
• David's Conquest: According to 2 Samuel 5:6-9 and 1 Chronicles 11:4-8, the Jebusites taunted David, saying, "Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither," but David captured the stronghold of Zion and called it "the city of David." 1 Chronicles 11:6 records that Joab went up first and so became chief of the army.
• The Threshing Floor of Araunah: In 2 Samuel 24:18-25, David buys the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (called Ornan in 1 Chronicles 21) and builds an altar there. 2 Chronicles 3:1 records that Solomon built the Temple on this very site, on Mount Moriah.
• Later History: 1 Kings 9:20-21 states that the remaining Jebusites were conscripted for forced labor under Solomon, and Ezra 9:1 raises as a grave concern the intermarriage of the Israelites who returned from exile with them. Zechariah 9:7 says that Ekron of the Philistines will be "as a Jebusite."

Background

The Hebrew name Yebusi appears to derive from the name of the city, Jebus. There is no consensus on the meaning of the name or on the origins of the people. The city is reportedly called Urusalim in the Egyptian Amarna letters, and because the name "Jebus" is not clearly attested in extrabiblical sources, scholars debate the nature of the name. The Jebusite city is commonly located on the southeastern hill of Jerusalem near the Gihon Spring, but scholars differ on the exact location of the "gutter" (2 Samuel 5:8), the water passage by which David's troops went up.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The story of the Jebusites is bound up with the process by which Jerusalem became Israel's capital and the center of its worship. A city that long remained unconquered becomes the city of David, and the threshing floor of a Jebusite becomes the site of the Temple in Jerusalem. The New Testament does not mention the Jebusites directly, but the symbolism of Zion and Jerusalem that took shape in this way carries over into "the heavenly Jerusalem" of Hebrews 12:22 and the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21.

Interpretive Issues

• The Meaning of the Failure to Conquer: Many interpreters read the accounts in Joshua and Judges together with Judges 2:1-3 and see the failure as a consequence of Israel's disobedience. Others read the accounts simply as historical records showing that the conquest was gradual.
• "The Blind and the Lame": Because the original text of 2 Samuel 5:6-8 is difficult, it has been interpreted in several ways: as mockery, as a boast about the city's defenses, or as an ancient curse ritual.
• The Difference in Price Between the Two Accounts: 2 Samuel 24:24 gives fifty shekels of silver, while 1 Chronicles 21:25 gives six hundred shekels of gold. Some harmonize the two by taking the former as the price of the threshing floor and the oxen and the latter as the price of the entire surrounding site; others regard the difference as reflecting distinct traditions behind the two accounts.
• Traditions Beyond the Text: The view that Araunah was the last Jebusite king (based on a reading of the original text of 2 Samuel 24:23) and the tradition linking the Salem of Melchizedek with Jebus are conjectures of some scholars or traditions, not statements made directly by the text.

In the Korean Church

Sermons often employ a spiritual interpretation that likens the seven nations of Canaan to sins or obstacles believers must overcome. David's conquest of Zion and the threshing floor of Araunah are also expounded as examples of costly devotion (2 Samuel 24:24: "neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing").