Another fruitful source of discussion has been found in the site of Salem and Shaveh, which certainly lay in Abraham's road from Hobah to the plain of Mamre, and which are assumed to be near to each other. The va- rious theories may be briefly enumerated as follows: (1) Salem is supposed to have occupied in AJbraham's time the ground on which afterwards Jebus and then Jerusalem stood; and Shaveh to be the valley east of Jerusalem through which the Kidron flows. This opin- ion, abandoned by Reland {Pal. p. 833), but adopted by Winer, is supported by the facts that Jerusalem is called Salem in Psa. Ixxvi, 2, and that Josephus {Ant. i, 10, 2) and the Targums distinctly assert their identity; that the king's dale (2 Sam. xviii, 18), identified in Gen. xiv, 17, with Shaveh, is placed by Josephus {Ant. vii, 10, 3), and by medi.-eval and modern tradition (see Ewald, GescJi. iii, 239), in the immediate neighborhood of Jeru- salem ; that the name of a later king of Jerusalem, Ado- nizedek (Josh, x, 1), sounds like that of a legitimate successor of Melchizedek ; and that Jewish writers {op. Schrittgen, Hor. Heb. in Heb. vii, 2) claim Zedek = righteousness, as a name of Jerusalem. (2) Jerome {0pp. i, 446) denies that Salem is Jerusalem, and asserts that it is identical with a town near Scythopolis or Bethshan, which in his time retained the name of Sa- lem, and in which some extensive ruir.s were shown as the remains of Melchizedek's palace. He supports this view by quoting Gen. xxx, 18, where, however, the translation is questionable ; compare the mention of Sa- lem in Judith iv, 4, and in John iii, 23. (3) Stanley, {S. and P. p. 237) is of opinion that there is every prob- ability that jNIoimt Gerizim is the place where Melchiz- edek, the priest of the Most High, met Abraham. Eu- polemus (ap. Eusebius, Prcej}. Evang. ix, 17), in a confused version of this story, names Argerizim, the mount of the Most High, as the place in which Abraham was hospita-
bly entertained. (4) Ewald, GescJi. iii, 239) denies pos- itively that it is Jerusalem, and says that it must be north of Jerusalem on the other side of Jordan (i, 410) : an opinion which Eodiger (Gesen. Thesaurus, p. 1422 V) condemns. There, too, Stanley thinks that the king's dale was situate, near the spot where Absalom fell. See King's Dale.
Some Jewish writers have held the opinion that Mel- chizedek was the writer and Abraham the subject of Psa. ex. See Deyling, Obs. Sacr. iii, 137. It may suffice to mention that there is a fabulous life of Melchizedek printed among the spiu-ious works of Athanasius, iv, 189.
Reference may be made to the following works in ad- dition to those already mentioned : two tracts on Mel- chizedek by M. J. H. von Elswick, in the Thesaurus Novus Theolog.-philologicus ; 'L.BoTQisiVi%,Historia Crit- ica Melchisedeci (Bern. 1706); Quandt, De sacerdotio Melch. (Regiom. 1737); Gaillard, ^feirhisedecKs Chris- tus (Leyd. 1686) ; M. C. H(.iirniaii. De Jfelchi.^c dt en ( KKI'.)) ; H. Broughton, Treatise on JIi/chizaM (lo91); Kirch- maier, JJe Melchisedecho (Rotterd. 169G); Lange, idem. (Hal. 1713, 1714); Danhauer, idein (Strasb.1684) ; Pietsch, idem (HaUe, 1713); Reinhart, idem (Wittenb. 1751); Withner, idem (Gott. 1745); Henderson, Melchisedek (Lond. 1839) ; and other monographs cited in Darling, Cyclop). Bibliogr. col. 183, 1607. See also J. A. Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepig. V. T. ; P. IMolinaeus, Vates, etc. (1640), iv, 11; J. H. Heidegger, Hist. Sac?: Patriarcharmti (1671), ii, 288; Hottinger, Ennead. Dispvt.; P. Ctnianis, De Pepubl. Heb. iii, 3, apud Crit. Sacr. vol. v; IrMiii, Analect. Sacr. i, 349; Krahmer, in Illgen's Ziii^rirr. vii, 4, p. 87 ; Auberlcin, in the Stud. u. Krit. iii, l.s57, 453 sq. ; Presh. Quar. Rev. Oct. 1861.
Melchizedekiaiis, a sect which arose in the Christian Church about the beginning of the 3d cen- tury, and was composed mainly of Jewish converts. They affirmed that ^lelchizedek was not a man, but a heavenly power superior to Jesus Christ; for Melchize- dek, they said, was the intercessor and mediator of the a.igels ; and Jesus Christ was onlj^ so for man, and his priesthood only a copy of that of Melchizedek. Similar views were revived among the Hieracites. See Theodo- ret, Hceies. Sat. ii, 5, 6.
Meldenius, Rlpertus, a German Protestant the- ologian of the 17th century, is known especially by his work entitled Parcenesis rotiva pro pace ecclesice ad The- ologos AvgristancB Confessionis s. 1, et a, Yery little is known of his life, and it was even at one time supposed that the name was fictitious. Yet the existence of Mel- denius appears now well established. He was a warm supporter of the Formula Concordice, and did not con- template a union of the two churches, but at the same time he wished the sjiirit of scholastic controversy which then ruled the churches to give way to real, practical piety and peace. In the first part of his work he de- nounces the state of the Lutheran Church, and in the second he presents the remedy for it. He accused the- ologians of not distinguishing sufficiently between es- sentials and non-essentials, and maintains that, while they should always be ready to defend their opinions, they ought not to be ceaselessly engaged in controver- sies. He claims that in order to labor efficiently for the edification of his flock the minister must himself lead a holy life, and nothing, in his opinion, can be wors& than Pharisaical hypocrisy, which is the origin of (pi- XoSo^ia, (piXopyvpici, and (ptXovfixif- He ends his de- scription of these besetting sins of the Church with the exclamation, Serva nos Domine, alioqui{n) perituns. In the second part he contrasts with these faults the opix)- site virtues of humility, moderation, and peacefulness which the Christian should possess. Want of Christian love he considers as the true cause of the state of af- fairs ; there is enough of science, but a great lack of love. He cannot understand a minister whose sins have been pardoned by God not hiding under the shield of love the faults of his colleague. " Omnium vero norma,"