Patriarchal PalestineSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
Patriarchal Palestine
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Jews -- History -- To 953 B.C.; Palestine -- History
Between the Hittite and the Amorite the geographical table of Genesis
interposes the Jebusite, and the Book of Numbers similarly states that
"the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the
mountains." The Jebusites, however, were merely the local tribe which in
the early days of the Israelitish occupation of Canaan were in
possession of Jerusalem, and they were probably either Hittite or
Amorite in race. At any rate there is no trace of them in the cuneiform
letters of Tel el-Amarna. On the contrary, in these Jerusalem is still
known only by its old name of Uru-salim; of the name Jebus there is not
a hint. But the letters show us that Ebed-Tob, the native king of
Jerusalem and humble vassal of the Pharaoh, was being hard pressed by
his enemies, and that, in spite of his urgent appeals for help, the
Egyptians were unable to send any. His enemy were the Khabiri or
"Confederates," about whose identification there has been much
discussion, but who were assisted by the Beduin chief Labai and his
sons. One by one the towns belonging to the territory of Jerusalem fell
into the hands of his adversaries, and at last, as we learn from another
letter, Ebed-Tob himself along with his capital was captured by the foe.
It was this event, perhaps, which made Jerusalem a Jebusite city. If so,
we must see in the enemies of Ebed-Tob the Jebusites of the Old
Testament.
The Girgashite is named after the Amorite, but who he may have been it
is hard to say. In the Egyptian epic composed by the court-poet Pentaur,
to commemorate the heroic deeds of Ramses II. in his struggle with the
Hittites, mention is twice made of "the country of Qarqish." It was one
of those which had sent contingents to the Hittite army. But it seems to
have been situated in Northern Syria, if not in Asia Minor, so that
unless we can suppose that some of its inhabitants had followed in the
wake of the Hittites and settled in Palestine, it is not easy to see how
they could be included among the sons of Canaan. The Hivites, whose name
follows that of the Girgashites, are simply the "villagers" or fellahin
as opposed to the townsfolk. They are thus synonymous with the
Perizzites, who take their place in Gen. xv. 20, and whose name has the
same signification. But whereas the Perizzites were especially the
country population of Southern Palestine, the Hivites were those of the
north. In two passages, indeed, the name appears to be used in an ethnic
sense, once in Gen. xxxvi. 2, where we read that Esau married the
granddaughter of "Zibeon the Hivite," and once in Josh. xi. 3, where
reference is made to "the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh."
But a comparison of the first passage with a later part of the chapter
(vv. 20, 24, 25) proves that "Hivite" is a corrupt reading for "Horite,"
while it is probable that in the second passage "Hittite" ought to be
read for "Hivite."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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