unknown unknown End date 1000 BC Location Jerusalem | no reliable estimates no reliable estimates Result Israelite victory | |
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Similar Siege of Azekah, Jewish–Babylonian war, Sack of Jerusalem, Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem, Battle of Megiddo | ||
The Siege of Jebus is a siege described in biblical passages as having occurred when Israelites under King David of Israel besieged the Jebusite city of Jerusalem, then known as Jebus. The Israelites gained access by a surprise assault, making Jebus the capital of a united kingdom of Israel.
The identification of Jebus with Jerusalem has been challenged. Niels Peter Lemche notes that every non-biblical mention of Jerusalem found in the ancient Near East refers to the city with the name Jerusalem, offering as an example the Amarna letters which are dated to the 14th century BCE and call Jerusalem Urasalimmu. He states that "There is no evidence of Jebus and the Jebusites outside of the Old 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."
Biblical Description
The capture of Jebus is mentioned in 2 Samuel 5 and 1 Chronicles 11 with similar wordings:
And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.