001_naman_481-497 19/02/15 10:45 Pagina 495 JEBUSITES AND JABESHITES IN THE SAUL AND DAVID STORY-CYCLES 495 lical historiography. The stronghold was located on the southern bor- der of the tribe of Benjamin and must have been one of Saul’s bases of power. No wonder that in the descriptions of the tribal allotments the city is included in Benjamin’s inheritance (Josh 15,8a; 18,16b.28). Thus, its conquest represents neither the removal of the non-Israelite barrier that cut the connection between the southern and northern Israelite tribes, nor the transformation of the conquered non-Israelite city into a personal property of the conqueror 61. On the contrary, the place was conquered from its Jebusite/Benjaminite inhabitants and was motivated by David’s efforts to take over one of the power bases of the Saulides, his rivals. Following his con- quest, David established his seat in the conquered city and from his new residence was able to control the neighbouring territory of Ben- jamin. No wonder that after the division of the monarchy, the district of Benjamin was included in the kingdom of Judah and remained Judahite until the kingdom’s destruction in 587/86 BCE 62. Evidently, the chronicle-like account of Jerusalem’s conquest (2 Sam 5,6-8) is biased in one major element. It concealed the fact that David captured a Saulide stronghold and made the false im- pression that, formerly, a pre-Israelite ethnic group held it. By pre- senting the conquest in this manner the author gave it an aura of heroic feat and legitimacy. The real objects of the conquest — namely, to take over a strategic base of the Saulides and control the neighbouring territory of Benjamin — are intentionally omitted from the account. The representation of the Jebusites in the history of David deeply influenced their depiction in later biblical historiography. The most remarkable expression of this representation is in the list of six or seven pre-Israelite nations that the Israelites subjugated. The list mainly appears in Deuteronomic/Deuteronomistic texts, and authors of this ideological movement frequently used it whenever they 61 These were the theses of A. ALT in several influential publications; see “Jerusalems Aufstieg”, Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. III (München 1959) 243-257; ID., “Die Staatenbildung der Israeliten in Pa- lästina”, Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. II (München 1953) 33-65; ID., “Das Königtum in den Reichen Israel und Juda”, VT 1 (1951) 2-22. 62 N. NA’AMAN, “Saul, Benjamin and the Emergence of ‘Biblical Israel’”, ZAW 121 (2009) 338-342, with earlier literature.