The census part II – Why a Jebusite?

Why do the Scriptures specify that Araunah was a Jebusite?

¹⁶ When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. (2 Samuel 24:16)

God says in Deuteronomy,

⁴ “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. ⁵ It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:4-6)

And when the land was being explained to Moses, God listed the seven nations that were more powerful than them that they would dispossess with the last one being the Jebusites.

¹“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, ²and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. (Deuteronomy 7:1-2)

So, based on what was happening, I believe Araunah being a Jebusite was God reminding Israel where they came from, how easily He could replace them if He wanted to, and why it was important to obey His instructions.

“The LORD did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, (Deuteronomy 7:7)

References

2 Samuel 24:16

Deuteronomy 9:4-6

Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 7