Jebusites — the pre-Israelite population of Judea, who in the late 3rd millennium BC founded the city of Jerusalem (previously known as Salem or Jebus — "Book of Judges," 19:10) and originally inhabited it. According to the Bible, they lived in the mountains (Book of Joshua, 11:3) and were descendants of Jebus from the clan of Canaan (Genesis, 10:15-16). Many facts indicate the kinship of the Jebusites with the Hittites. The Jebusites were ruled by kings; the name of one of them — Abdu-Heba (servant of Eve) — is mentioned in Egyptian papyri from the time of Amenhotep III, and the name of another — Adoni-zedek — was preserved by the Bible (Book of Joshua, 10:3). However, the latter may have been of Amorite origin (Book of Joshua, 10:5), from which it is concluded that by the time of the arrival of the Israelites, the Jebusites were a people of mixed Semitic-Hurrian-Hittite origin, which is confirmed in the Bible (Book of Ezekiel, 16:3).
The Bible also indicates the close kinship of the Jebusites with the Hittites: "Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite" (Book of Ezekiel, 16:3). During the conquest of Canaan by Joshua (1399 BC [1]), the coalition of local kings, including the king of Jerusalem, was defeated at the Battle of Gibeon, but it was not possible to conquer the mountain-dwelling Jebusites (Book of Joshua, 15:63). During the subsequent "Era of the Judges" (1445–1045 BC), the Jebusites were a completely independent people, and Jerusalem was not part of Israel. The end of the Jebusites' existence came only under King David, who stormed the Jebusite acropolis on Mount Zion and moved the capital of his state there. This happened 33 years before the death of King David, or around 1000 BC. Nevertheless, their name was not completely eradicated — John of Damascus mentions the Jebusites as one of the four "sects" of the Samaritans. Regarding David's capture of Jerusalem, the Second Book of Samuel preserved only vague and obscure phrases: "And David said on that day, 'Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him get up to the water shaft' (literally 'and touches the pipe') and to the lame and the blind, hated by David's soul..." Archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who discovered the foundation of the oldest city wall near the Spring of Gihon, showed that in the initial period of its existence, the fortress city was in the hands of the Hittites — a people who created a powerful state in Asia Minor. Now the biblical text about the conquest of the city of the Jebusites has become completely clear. David's warriors entered the city through the "water shaft" and only therefore managed to capture it without bloodshed. As for the "lame and blind," according to Israeli archaeologist Yigal Yadin, it refers to some magical ceremony by which the Jebusites (Hittites) tried to frighten David and his men before they attempted to take the city. The Hittites had a tradition of displaying the lame and blind on the city walls to intimidate enemy soldiers. Thus, it was established that the Jebusites and Hittites are the same people, and one of the biblical stories that was previously considered legendary found its material confirmation. For a long time, the Hittites posed the main threat to the interests of the greatest world power — Egypt. On the eastern borders of the great African power stood a large military garrison, from where the Egyptians set out on military campaigns against the Hittites.
According to some sources, the king of Salem (Jerusalem) Melchizedek, who met Abraham with bread and wine, was a Jebusite. This is confirmed by the fact that Mount Zion, sacred to the Jebusites, continued to be revered by the Jews.
[1] Here and below, unless otherwise noted, dates "from the creation of the world" adopted in the Orthodox tradition are given. The dating of Old Testament events is a subject of debate.
VARIANT NAMES: Hebrew יבוסים, Greek Ιβηροι, Ιβηραι, Ιβηρες, Ιβυροι, Russian Ievusei.
Sources:
Ethnogenesis of the Abkhazians. D.A. Arshba, 2015