The Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh) contains the only surviving ancient text known to use the termJebusiteto describe the pre- Israeliteinhabitants of Jerusalem; according to the Table of Nationsat Genesis10, the Jebusites are identified as a Canaanitetribe, which is listed in third place among the Canaanite groups, between the biblical Hittitesand the Amorites. Prior to modern archaeological studies, most biblical scholarsheld the opinion that the Jebusites were identical to the Hittites, which continues to be the case, though less so. [ 4 ]However, an increasingly popular view, first put forward by Edward Lipinski, professor of Oriental and Slavonic studies at the Catholic University of Leuven, is that the Jebusites were most likely an Amoritetribe; Lipinski identified them with the group referred to asYabusi'umin a cuneiformletter found in the archive of Mari, Syria. [ 5 ]
As Lipinski noted, however, it is entirely possible that more than one clan or tribe bore similar names, and thus that the Jebusites and Yabusi'um may have been separate people altogether. [ 5 ]In the Amarna letters, mention is made that the contemporaneous king of Jerusalem was named Abdi-Heba, which is a theophoric nameinvoking a Hurriangoddess named Hebat;.