JEBUS

(Jeʹbus) [possibly from a root meaning “tread down; stamp down”], Jebusite (Jebʹu·site).

Jebus was an ancient city of the Jebusites on the site now known as Jerusalem.

In the time of Abraham before the year 1900 B.C.E., this place was called Salem (meaning “Peace”), which is included in the name Jerusalem and may be a contraction of it. (Heb 7:2) Mention was made of Urusalim (Jerusalem) in the Amarna Tablets found in Egypt. And in the books of Joshua, Judges, and First Samuel, where events prior to the conquest of the city by David are mentioned, the site is often called Jerusalem. (Jos 10:1, 3, 5, 23; 12:10; 15:8, 63; 18:28; Jg 1:7, 8, 21; 19:10; 1Sa 17:54) In only two passages is it referred to as Jebus. (Jg 19:10, 11; 1Ch 11:4, 5) In Joshua 18:28 Yevu·siʹ appears in the Hebrew, the ending i indicating people, the inhabitants of the city.

It therefore seems evident to most scholars that Jerusalem (or, possibly, Salem) was the city’s original name, and that only when occupied by the Jebusites was it occasionally called Jebus. It is also generally agreed that “Jebus” was not a contraction of Jerusalem but, rather, a contraction of Jebusites, the name of the occupants of the site for a time. After David’s capture of this stronghold of Zion and the establishment of his royal residence there, it was sometimes referred to as the “City of David.”​—2Sa 5:7.

It may have been after this victory that the Israelites put the torch to Jebus, burning it to the ground.​—Jg 1:8.

Nevertheless, after the burning of Jebus and sometime before the dividing of the land, the Jebusites had control of the strategic heights of Jerusalem, which they held for 400 years.​—Jos 15:63.

The city of Jebus was assigned to Benjamin when the land was apportioned out, and it lay on the immediate border between the tribal territories of Judah and Benjamin. (Jos 15:1-8; 18:11, 15, 16, 25-28) However, the Israelites did not drive out the Jebusites but, instead, allowed their sons and daughters to intermarry with these people, and they even took up worshiping the false gods of the Jebusites. (Jg 1:21; 3:5, 6) During this period it remained “a city of foreigners,” in which a Levite once refused to stay overnight.​—Jg 19:10-12.

Finally, in 1070 B.C.E., David conquered Zion, the stronghold of the Jebusites. (2Sa 5:6-9; 1Ch 11:4-8) Later David purchased the threshing floor to the N from a Jebusite named Araunah (Ornan), and there he built an altar and offered up special sacrifices. (2Sa 24:16-25; 1Ch 21:15, 18-28) It was upon this site years later that Solomon built the costly temple. (2Ch 3:1)