Jebus was the ancient name of what is today the city of Jerusalem. This means that the people who lived there were called (I am not making this up) the Jebusites. This name was used until approximately 1400 B.C., when the Israelites entered Canaan. Here is a complete list of the times this name appears in the Bible (NIV translation):
- Genesis 10:15-18
Canaan was the father of Sidon the firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
- Genesis 15:18-21
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – The land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
- Joshua 3:9-10
Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites."
- Joshua 15:7-8
The boundary then went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor and turned north to Gilgor, which faces the Pass of Adummim south of the gorge. It continued along to the waters of En Shemesh and came out at En Rogel. Then it ran up the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem). From there it climbed the top of the hill west of the Hinnom Valley at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
- Judges 19:10
But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.
- 1 Chronicles 1:13-16
(repeats Genesis 10:15-18 verbatim)
- 1 Chronicles 11:4-5
David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). The Jebusites who lived there said to David, “You will not get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David.
- Ezra 9:1-2
After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites."
You know, before I found E2, I never would have imagined that other people use “Jebus” as an exclamation the way QXZ and I started to after we saw this episode. But the above information, which I recently discovered quite by accident, was just one more piece of confirming evidence for me that Homer is a misunderstood genius.