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Bible Encyclopedias
Jebusite
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Yebusi', יְבוּסַי , Sept. Ι᾿εβουσαῖος, but Ι᾿εβοῦς in Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:28, or Ι᾿εβούς in Judges 19:11; 1 Chronicles 11:4; also Ι᾿εβουσαί in Joshua 18:16, and Ι᾿εβουσί in Ezra 9:1; A.V. "Jebusi' in Joshua 18:16; Joshua 18:28), the name of the original inhabitants of Jebus, frequently mentioned (usually last in the list) amongst the seven Canaanitish nations doomed to destruction (Genesis 10:16; Genesis 15:21; Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:17; Exodus 13:5; Exodus 23:23; Exodus 33:2; Exodus 34:11; Numbers 13:29; Deuteronomy 7:1; Deuteronomy 20:17; Joshua 3:10; Joshua 9:1; Joshua 11:3; Joshua 12:8; Joshua 24:11; Judges 3:5; 1 Kings 9:20; 1 Chronicles 1:14 : 2 Chronicles 8:7; Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 9:8). They appear to have descended from a grandson of Ham (Genesis 10:16). "His place in the list is between Heth and the Amorites (Genesis 10:16; 1 Chronicles 1:14), a position which the tribe maintained long after (Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3); and the same connection is traceable in the words of Ezekiel 16:3; Ezekiel 16:45, who addresses Jerusalem as the fruit of the union of an Amorite with a Hittite" (Smith). At the time of the arrival of the Israelites (see Jour. Siac. Lit. Oct. 1851, p. 167) they were found to be a considerable tribe on the west of Jordan (Joshua 9:1), seated on one of the hills of Judah (some have wrongly inferred Moriah from 2 Chronicles 3:1, but in 2 Samuel 5:9 it is clearly identified with Zion), near the Hittites and Amorites (Numbers 13:30; Joshua 11:3), where they had founded a city called JEBUS (Joshua 18:28; comp. 19:10), probably after the name of their progenitor, and established a royal form of government, being then ruled by Adonizedek (Joshua 10:1; Joshua 10:23). (See SALEIM). They seem to have been a warlike tribe; and, although they were defeated with much slaughter, and Adoni-zedek, their king, slain by Joshua (Joshua 10), and though a part of their city seems to have been afterwards taken, sacked, and burned by the warriors of Judah (Judges 1:8), yet they were not wholly subdued, but were able to retain at least their acropolis (Judges 1:21), and were not entirely dispossessed of it till the time of David (2 Samuel 5). Being situated on the border (Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16), between Judah and Benjamin, to either of which it is indifferently assigned (Joshua 15:63; Joshua 18:28; Judges 1:21), it was only at this late date secured to the actual territory of David's tribe (1 Chronicles 11). He made it the capital of his kingdom instead of Hebron (Ewald, Isr. Gesch. 2, 583), but did not wholly expel the natives (1 Kings 9:20). By that time the inveteracy of the enmity between the Hebrews and such of the original inhabitants as remained in the land had much abated, and the rights of private property were respected by the conquerors. This we discover from the fact that the site on which the Temple afterwards stood belonged to a Jebusite named Araunah, from whom it was purchased by king David, who declined to accept it as a free gift from the owner (2 Samuel 244; 1 Chronicles 21). This afterwards became the site of Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 3:1). It appears that the Jebusites subsisted under his reign in the state. of tributaries or slaves (2 Chronicles 8:7) and even so continued to the times of the return from Babylon (Ezra 9:1). (See JERUSALEM).
The name "Jebusite" is sometimes put for the city itself inhabited by them (i. q. "city of the Jebusite," Judges 19:11), as in Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16; also poetically, in later times, for its successor, Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:7). (See JEBUS).
"In the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, the ashes of Barnabas, after his martyrdom in Cyprus, are said to have been buried in a cave where the race of the Jebusites formerly dwelt, and previous to this is mentioned the arrival in the island of a pious Jebusite, a kinsman of Nero (Act. Apost. Apocr p. 72,73, ed Tisch.)"
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Jebusite'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/j/jebusite.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
