001_naman_co_481-497 13/02/15 11:21 Pagina 494 494 NADAV NA’AMAN In any case, it is evident that both “Jabesh” and “Jebusite” were names derived from the verb YBŚ, “to be dry” — each transcribing the proto-Semitic /ś/ by a different sibilant 58. In this light, I suggest that the Jabeshites and Jebusites were originally part of a single clan that wandered in a region where the rainfall was minimal; hence the derivation of their name from a verb meaning “dry”. Over the course of the early Iron Age, they split and settled, one group in the Jerusalem region and the other in the area of Wādi Yābis in western Gilead. The Jabeshites gave their name to the new settle- ment they founded, whereas the ancient name of Jerusalem was too deeply rooted to be altered, and thus remained as it was. Priebatsch observed the synonymy of the names Jebusites and Zion (ṣiyôn), as the latter was derived from the verb ṢYY, “to be dry” 59. In this light, we may suggest that the new settlers in Jerusalem named the stronghold they constructed as a synonym for their clan’s name. In spite of the territorial distance, the two segments of the clan must have continued to hold close ties. Military cooperation was one of the strongest elements in tribal solidarity, and the story of the delegation the Jabeshites sent to Saul and of the latter’s cam- paign to rescue the city of Jabesh fits the tribal reality well. Note also the marriage of Merab, Saul’s daughter, to Adriel of Meholah (1 Sam 18,19; 2 Sam 21,8), a city located not far from Jabesh 60, which might possibly have been a marriage of the king’s daughter to the son of one of the northern clan’s leaders. V. The Jebusites’ Denigration in Biblical Historiography The hypothesis that the Jebusites were a Benjaminite clan and maintained close contacts with the new king and his house, if ac- cepted, sheds new light on the historicity of the episode of David’s conquest of the stronghold of Zion and on the way it is related in bib- 58 HÜBNER, “Jerusalem und die Jebusiter”, 32, and GASS, Die Ortsnamen, 11, with earlier literature in notes 17-18, 504, already suggested the derivation of the name “Jebusite” from the verb YBŠ. 59 PRIEBATSCH, “Jerusalem”, 19; ID., “Die amoritische Sprache”, 252. For a detailed analysis of the name “Zion”, see E. OTTO, “!wyc, ṣîyôn”, TDOT XII, 342-343, with earlier literature. 60 For the location of Abel-meholah, see GASS, Die Ortsnamen, 287-293, with earlier literature.