Adoni-zedec - i. e “Lord of righteousness” (compare Melchizedek, “King of righteousness”); probably an official title of the Jebusite kings.
Jerusalem - i. e. “foundation of peace,” compare Genesis 14:18. The city belonged to the inheritance of Benjamin Joshua 18:28, but was on the very edge of the territory of Judah Joshua 15:8. Hence, it was the strong and war-like tribe of Judah which eventually captured the lower part of the city, most likely in the days of Joshua’s later conquests Judges 1:8, and after the warlike strength of the Jebusites had been weakened by the defeat in the open field, recorded in this chapter. The upper town, more especially the fortified hill of Zion, remained in the hands of the Jebusites, who accordingly kept a footing in the place, along with the men of Judah and Benjamin, even after the conquest Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:21; and would seem, indeed, to have so far, and no doubt gradually, regained possession of the whole, that Jerusalem was spoken of in the days of the Judges as a Jebusite city. David finally stormed “the stronghold of Zion,” and called it “the City of David” 2 Samuel 5:6-9. It was, probably, only after this conquest and the adoption by David of the city as the religious and political metropolis of the whole nation, that the name Jerusalem came into use 2 Samuel 5:5 in substitution for Jehus.