Salcah is, doubtless, identical with the present town of Sulkhad, which stands at the southern extremity of the Jebel Ilauran, twenty miles south of Kunawat (the ancient Kenath), which was the southern outpost of the Leja, the Argob of the Bible. Snlkhad is named by both the Christian and Mohammedan historians of the Middle Ages (Will, of Tyre, xvi, 8, "Selcath;" Abuife- da [^I'dh. iSi/r. p. 100; also in Schultens's Index Geogr.~\, "Sarchad"). It was visited by Burckhardt (Si/iia, Nov. 22, 1810), Seetzen,and others, and more recently bj' Por- ter, who describes it at some length {Five Yeais in Da- mascus, ii, 176-21G). Its identification with Salcah
SALCHAH
253
SALEM
seems to be due to Gesenius (Burckhardt, Reiscv, p. 507). Immediately below Sulkhad commences the plain of the great Euphrates desert, which appears to stretch, with hardly an undulation, from here to Busra, on the Persian Gulf. The town is of considerable size, from two to tliree miles in circumference ; it occupies a strong and com- manding position on a conical hill. On the summit stands the castle, a circular building of great size and strength, surrounded by a deep moat. The external walls are still tolerably perfect, and were evidently founded not later than the lioman age, though the up- per portions are Saracenic. Tlie sides of the cone im- mediately beneath the walls are steep and smooth, and are covered with light cinders and blocks of lava, show- ing that it was originally a volcano. The city occupies the lower slopes on the south, extending to the plain. A large number of tlie houses are still i)erfect, with their stone roofs and stone doors, though they have been long deserted. On the walls of the castle, and among the ruins, there are Greek inscriptions, bearing dates equivalent to A.D. 24G and 370 ; while an Arabic rec- ord on the walls of a large mosque shows that it was built in the year A.D. 1224, and a minaret near it about four centuries later. The latter appears to be the newest building in the place. The country round Sal- cah is now without inhabitants; but traces of former industry and wealth, and of a dense population, are vis- ible. The roads, the fields, the terraces, tha vineyards, and the fig-orchards are there, but man is gone. The view from the summit of the castle of Salcah is one of the most remarkable for desolation in all Palestine. See Porter, Handbook for Syria, p. 488 ; Schwarz, Palestine, p. 222. See Basiian.
Sarchah (Deut. ii, 10). See Salcaii.
Sale, John, a Methodist E|)iscopal minister, and "one of the most heroic evangelists and founders of Western Methodism," was born in Virginia in 17G9. In 1796 he joined the itinerancy, and was sent to Swa- nino Circuit, "in the wilds of Virginia, where he had his courage and fidelity tested in breasting the dangers and hardships of a pioneer preacher."' His next circuit was the Mattamuskeet, Va. ; in 1799 he went to Hol- ston Circuit; in 1803, to the north-western territory of Virginia, where, for nearly a quarter of a century, he alternated between Ohio and Kentucky, a successful circuit preacher and a commanding presiding elder. He died in 1827, exclaiming, '-My last battle is fought, and the victory sure! hallelujah!" Mr. Sale was an eminently useful man, and he adorned every relation that he sustained to the Church. Sec Minutes of Con- ferences, i, 572 ; Stevens, Hist, of the M. E, Church, iv, 106, 148, 149, 338, 431; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, \-\\; Finle}', Sketches, p. 185, 18G; Bangs, Hist, of the 31. E. Church, ii, HI. (J. L. S.)
Sa'lem (Heb. Shalem', cVr, peaceful, i. e. unin- jured, or whole, as often) occurs in a few passages of Scripture, and in several other notices, as the name of one or more places, although some writers doubt wheth- er it should not in all cases be translated as a simple appellative. (In the following remarks we partly adopt the art. in Smith's Diet, of the Bible, s. v.) See also Shalem.
1. (Sept. 'S.a\!]ii, and so N. T.) The place of which Melchizedek was king (Gen. xiv, 18; Heb. vii, 1, 2). Some have inferred, from the circumstances of the nar- rative (o. g. Bochart, Phulcg, ii, 4 ; Ewald, Gesch. i, 410), that it lav between Damascus and Sodom ; but although it is said that the king of Sodom — who had probably regained his own city after the retreat of the Assyrians — went out to meet (nX"i p?) Abraham, yet it is also dis- tinctly stated that this was after A braham had returned (131"j '^1''!'.^) i^om the slaughter of the kings. The only clue is that afforded by the mention of the vallej' of Shaveh (q. v.), which seems to have been the " King's Dale" near Jerusalem. See Absalom's Pillak.
Dr. Wolff, in a striking passage, implies that Salem was — what tlio autlior of the Epistle to the Hebrews understood it to be — a title, not the name of a place. "Melchizedek of old . . . had a royal title: he was ' King of Kighteousness' (in Heljrew, Melchi-zedek) ; he was also ' King of Peace' {Melek-Salem). AV'lien Abra- ham came to his tent, he came forth with bread and wine, and was called ' the Priest of the Highest,' and Abraham gave him a portion of his spoil. Just so Wolffs friend, in the desert of Meru, in the kingdom of Khiva . . . whose name is Abd-er-Kahman, which means ' Slave of the merciful God,' . . . has also a royal title. He is called Shahe-Adaalat, ' King of Kighteous- ness'— the same as Melchizedek in Hebrew. AVhen he makes peace between kings, he bears the title Shahe Siilkh, ' King of Peace' (in Hebrew, Melek-Salem)."