Editing Jebusites (section)

==Identification of Jebus==
The identification of Jebus with Jerusalem<ref>([http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0615.htm Joshua 15:8] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304082251/http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0615.htm |date=2016-03-04 }}, [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0618.htm 18:28] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106160644/http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0618.htm |date=2016-11-06 }}; [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0719.htm Judges 19:10] )</ref> has been disputed, principally by [[Niels Peter Lemche]]. Supporting his case, every non-biblical mention of Jerusalem found in the [[ancient Near East]] refers to the city as "Jerusalem". An example of these records are the [[Amarna letters]], several of which were written by the chieftain of Jerusalem [[Abdi-Heba]] and call Jerusalem either {{lang|akk-Latn|Urusalim}} ({{lang|akk-Latn|URU ú-ru-sa-lim}}) or {{lang|akk-Latn|Urušalim}} ({{lang|akk-Latn|URU ú-ru-ša<sub>10</sub>-lim}}) (1330s BC).<ref>''Urusalim'' e.g. in EA 289:014, ''Urušalim'' e.g. in [[Amarna letter EA 287|EA 287]]:025. Transcription online at {{cite web |url=http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/semitic/EA263-end.html |title=''The El Amarna Letters from Canaan'' |publisher=Tau.ac.il |access-date=11 September 2010}}; translation by [https://archive.org/details/dieelamarnatafel01knud Knudtzon 1915] (English in Percy Stuart Peache Handcock, ''[https://archive.org/stream/selectionsfromte00handuoft#page/10/mode/2up Selections from the Tell El-Amarna letters]'' (1920).</ref> Also in the Amarna letters, it is called Beth-Shalem, the house of Shalem.<ref>See, e.g., ''Holman Bible Dictionary'', op. cit. supra.</ref>

The Sumero-Akkadian [[Names of Jerusalem|name for Jerusalem]], ''uru-salim'',<ref>See [[Victor P. Hamilton]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=WW31E9Zt5-wC&dq=Sumero-Akkadian+Jerusalem&pg=PA410 ''The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17''], p. 410 (1990). Hamilton also asserts that Sumerian ''uru'' is ''y<sup>e</sup>rû'', meaning "city."</ref> is variously etymologised to mean "foundation of [or: by] the god [[Shalim]]": from Semitic ''yry,'' "to found, to lay a cornerstone", and Shalim, the Canaanite god of the setting sun and the nether world, as well as of health and perfection.<ref>Meir Ben-Dov, ''Historical Atlas of Jerusalem,'' Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002, p. 23.</ref><ref name="Stephen J. Binz">{{cite book|title=Jerusalem, the Holy City|last=Binz|first=Stephen J. |year=2005|publisher=Twenty-Third Publications|location=Connecticut, USA.|isbn=9781585953653|page=[https://archive.org/details/jerusalemholycit0000binz/page/2 2] |url=https://archive.org/details/jerusalemholycit0000binz|url-access=registration|quote=Jerusalem, the Holy City By Stephen J. Binz.|access-date=17 December 2011}}</ref><ref>See the ''Anchor Bible Dictionary ''for an extensive discussion with citations. {{cite web |url=http://www.biblicalwritings.com/shalem-deity-the-anchor-bible-dictionary/ |title=SHALEM (DEITY) – the Anchor Bible Dictionary |access-date=2014-02-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221223704/http://www.biblicalwritings.com/shalem-deity-the-anchor-bible-dictionary/ |archive-date=2014-02-21}}</ref><ref>See ''Holman Bible Dictionary'', http://www.studylight.org/dic/hbd/print.cgi?n=3384 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223082106/http://www.studylight.org/dic/hbd/print.cgi?n=3384 |date=2014-02-23 }} ; National Geographic, http://education.nationalgeographic.com/media/file/Jerusalem_ED_Sheets.FasFacts.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221075859/http://education.nationalgeographic.com/media/file/Jerusalem_ED_Sheets.FasFacts.pdf |date=2014-02-21 }} ("As for the meaning of the name, it can be assumed to be a compound of the West Semitic elements "yrw" and "s[h]lm," probably to be interpreted as "Foundation of (the god) Shalem." Shalem is known from an Ugaritic mythological text as the god of twilight.").</ref>

Lemche states:

<blockquote>
There is no evidence of Jebus and the Jebusites outside of the [[Old Testament]]. Some scholars reckon Jebus to be a different place from Jerusalem; other scholars prefer to see the name of Jebus as a kind of pseudo-ethnic name.{{sfn|Lemche|2010|p=161}}</blockquote>

[[Theophilus G. Pinches]] has noted a reference to "Yabusu", which he interprets as an old form of Jebus, on a contract tablet that dates from 2200 BC.<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38732/38732-8.txt Pinches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119110213/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38732/38732-8.txt |date=2015-11-19 }}, Theophilus G., ''The Old Testament: In the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia'' (London: SPCK, 1908), p. 324.</ref>