| Siege of Jebus | ||||||||||
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 Jebusite walls in theCity of David, 2006 | ||||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||||
| United Kingdom of Israel | Jebusites | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
| David | Unknown | |||||||||
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Thesiege of Jebus is described in passages of theHebrew Bible as having occurred when theIsraelites, led by KingDavid, besieged and conquered theCanaanite city ofJerusalem, then known asJebus (Hebrew:יבוס,Yəḇūs,transl. 'threshing-floor'). The Israelites gained access to the city by conducting a surprise assault, and Jebus (or Jerusalem) was subsequently installed as the capital city of theUnited Kingdom of Israel under its initial name as theCity of David.
The identification of Jebus with Jerusalem has been challenged.Danish biblical scholarNiels Peter Lemche notes that every non-biblical mention of Jerusalem found in theancient Near East refers to the city with the name of Jerusalem, offering as an example theAmarna letters, which are dated to the 14th century BCE and refer to Jerusalem asÚrusalim. He states that "There is no evidence of Jebus and theJebusites outside of theOld 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 without any historical background".[1]
The capture of Jebus is mentioned in2 Samuel 5 and1 Chronicles 11 with similar wordings:
AndDavid and allIsrael went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where theJebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, "You will not come in here." Nevertheless, David took the stronghold ofZion, that is, thecity of David.
A 10-years study withCarbon 14 confirmed that theCity of David was the City of Jebus, in the south-east region of the odiern Jerusalem, which is the most ancient area of the Israel's capital.[2]
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