Nadav Na’aman, «Jebusites and Jabeshites in the Saul and David Story-Cycles», Vol. 95 (2014) 481-497
This article re-examines the historical role of the Jebusites in the early monarchical period. The Jebusites, whose name is derived from the verb YBŚ («to be dry»), were a West Semitic pastoral clan that split into two segments, one settling in western Gilead and the other around Jerusalem. The two segments kept their tribal solidarity, as indicated by Saul’s campaign to rescue Jabesh-gilead. The Jebusite stronghold was one of Saul’s power bases, and David took it over. The biased description of David’s conquest influenced the way the Jebusites were presented in the late (Deuteronomistic) biblical historiography and in Israelite cultural memory.
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will ward off the blind and the lame”) or that the blind and the lame
are the subject (“the blind and the lame will ward you off”) make
poor sense. In the MT, v. 6bβ is presented as part of the Jebusite’s
words, whereas in the Qumran scroll (4QSama), the word “if” was
omitted and the text states “[w]tysh yk” 25. This framing indicates
that the Jebusite’s words to David are the result of incitement of
the blind and lame— a meaning that is also expressed by the LXX.
Accordingly, v. 6b may be translated thus: “And he [the Jebusite]
said to David, ‘You will not come in here’, for the blind and the
lame incited [him] saying, ‘David will not come here’” (compare
2 Kgs 18,32b). The Qumran and LXX rendering makes good sense,
as it explains the reason for David’s hatred of the blind and the lame
(v. 8aβ). Were the latter considered seers able to predict the future?
Did the Jebusites trust their divine assurance and cite it to David
(compare 2 Kgs 19,32-33)?
3. Following the statement of conquest (v. 7) appears the fol-
lowing account (v. 8a): “And David said on the day: ‘Whoever
smote a Jebusite, he should touch the ṣinnôr (rncb [gyw)”. Scholars
have suggested many different interpretations of the latter expres-
sion, and it is redundant to repeat them here 26. In addition to v. 8a,
the term ṣinnôr is mentioned in the Bible only once more (Ps 42,8
[ET 42,7]), “Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataract
($yrnc); all your breakers and waves have swept over me”. The
parallelism in this verse shows that ṣinnôr means a cataract of
water; and in this light, David’s words in v. 8aα can be translated,
“Whoever smote a Jebusite, let him touch the water cataract”.
After the stronghold’s conquest (v. 7), the King ordered his men
to remove the impurity that might have resulted from smiting
the Jebusites by touching a cataract of dashing water. The sense
of purification coincides with the following statement (v. 8b),
25
E.D. HERBERT, “2 Samuel V 6: An Interpretative Crux Reconsidered in
the Light of 4QSama”, VT 44 (1994) 340-348, with earlier literature; A.
FINCKE, The Samuel Scroll from Qumran. 4QSama Restored and Compared
to the Septuagint and 4QSamc (Leiden 2001) 139-140; F.M. CROSS et al.,
Qumran Cave 4, XII: 1-2 Samuel (DJD 17; Oxford 2005) 118, 121.
26
In addition to the commentaries, see SCHÄFER-LICHTENBERGER, “David
und Jerusalem”, 202*-205*, with earlier literature in notes 108-114; T.
KLEVEN, “The Use of ṣnr in Ugaritic and 2 Samuel V 8: Hebrew Usage and
Comparative Philology”, VT 44 (1994) 195-204, with earlier literature;
HALOT 1038a; WILLI-PLEIN, “Keine Eroberung”, 226-229.
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