Jebusite

AI summary: Jebusite matters because the cross references place the name among the peoples occupying the land before Israel's settlement, and later memory ties them especially to Jerusalem before David's conquest. Like other ethnonym entries, the name expands Genesis into a structured account of neighboring peoples and inherited identities. Taken together, the material presents Jebusite as a Canaanite ethnonym contributing to Scripture's remembered ordering of the nations around Israel.¹

The name of the original inhabitants of Jebus, mentioned frequently among the seven nations doomed to destruction (Gen. 10:16; 15:21; Ex. 3:8, 17; 13:5, etc.). At the time of the arrival of the Israelites in Palestine they were ruled by Adonizedek (Josh. 10:1, 23). They were defeated by Joshua, and their king was slain; but they were not entirely driven out of Jebus till the time of David, who made it the capital of his kingdom instead of Hebron. The site on which the temple was afterwards built belonged to Araunah, a Jebusite, from whom it was purchased by David, who refused to accept it as a free gift (2 Sam. 24:16-25; 1 Chr. 21:24, 25). ³