Who were the Jebusites? The history of the Jebusite Empire explained in 7 minutes

When God promised Abraham a land for his descendants, he mentioned many tribes, including the Jebusites. Genesis 15, verses 18-21 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, I give this land to your offspring, from the brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river, the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hethites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. Who were these individuals and where had they come from? The Jebusites were descended from Noah's son Ham through his son Canaan, according to the table of nations in Genesis 10. They belonged to one of the Amorite tribes who were judged by God for their wickedness. Genesis 15, verse 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. Their pagan worship was described by God as abominable methods, which may have included child sacrifice. Deuteronomy 20, verse 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods, so should ye sin against the Lord your God. As Moses' instructions made clear, Israel's approach to war was not indiscriminate. Enemy cities outside the promised land were to be offered peace terms, which they could accept in exchange for becoming Israeli forced laborers. Refusing the offer, on the other hand, resulted in siege, the death of all the men in a city, and the plundering of their goods. However, no such peace offer was to be made to the Canaanites. This was critical because Israel had already demonstrated a proclivity for adopting the false religious practices of its neighbors. Furthermore, Israel was to avoid the common practice in ancient warfare of punishing a defeated enemy by annihilating its land. After all, Canaan was supposed to be Israel's. The Jebusites lived in the hill country, with Jerusalem being one of their most important cities. Numbers 13, verse 29 The people descended from Amalek live in the land of the Negev, south country. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite live in the hill country, and the Canaanites live by the Dead Sea and along the side of the Jordan. Judges 19, verses 10 and 11 But the man was not willing to stay the night. So he got up and left and came to a place opposite Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. With him were two saddle donkeys and his servant and his concubine. When they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone, and the servant said to his master, Please, come and let us turn aside into this Jebusite city and spend the night in it. The Jebusites' name for Jerusalem was Jebus, and it remained that name until the reign of King David. 1 Chronicles 11, verses 4 and 5 Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. Then the Jebusites said to David, You shall not come in here. But David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. During Joshua's reign, the Jebusite king Adonai Zedek joined forces with four other Amorite kings to attack the Israelites at Gibeon, but he was defeated and slain. Joshua 10, verses 5 Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they with all their armies, and they camped by Gibeon and fought against it. Later, the Jebusites joined forces with Jabin, king of Hazor, in a pitched battle against the Israelites, but they were defeated as well by Joshua's army. Joshua 11, verses 3 To the Canaanite in the east and in the west, and to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Parasite, and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. Despite these defeats, the Jebusites survived for many generations in the hill country around Jerusalem. Some Israelites began to intermarry with the Jebusites during the time of the judges, causing God to bring judgment on the nation. Judges 3, verses 5 And the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Parasites, Hivites, and Jebusites. When David became king of Israel, he attacked and conquered Jerusalem, which became known as the city of David. 2 Samuel 5, verses 6 Now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, You shall not enter here, for the blind and the lame, even the weakest among us, will turn you away. They thought, David cannot come in here because the walls are impenetrable. David appears to have agreed to terms of peace with the remaining Jebusites because he struck a friendly deal with Araunah the Jebusite to purchase land for the temple. 2 Samuel 24, verses 18-25 Then Gad the prophet came to David that day and said to him, Go up, set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, where you saw the angel. So David went up, according to Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him, and he went out and bowed before the king with his face toward the ground. Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague may be held back from the people. Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for the burnt offering, and threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All of this, O king, Araunah gives to the king. And Araunah said to the king, May the Lord your God be favorable to you. But the king said to Araunah, No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God, which cost me nothing. So David purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David built an altar to the Lord there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was moved to compassion by David's prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel. The Jebusites remained subject to Israel and were used as forced labor in Solomon's later construction projects. Despite being allowed to live among the Israelites, the Jebusites and other Amorite tribes maintained their distinct ways and thus remained a source of consternation for the Israelites. Ezra the priest had to deal with the issue of intermarriage with Jebusites and others when he led a revival among the Jews who had returned from Babylonian captivity. Ezra 9 verse 1 When these things were completed, the officials came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, but have committed the repulsive acts of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. Ezra commanded the men of Israel to confess their sins and give up their pagan wives in order for God to remove his wrath. The Jebusites vanished from history after this. They were most likely absorbed into the other Gentile peoples who lived in Israel. One of the tablets discovered at Mari, in modern-day Syria, may contain an extra-biblical reference to the Jebusites.