The main opinion, however, current from the earliest ages of interpretation, is that of the Jewish commenta- tors, who, from Onkelos {Targum) and Joscphus (^War, vi, 10; Ant. i, 10, 2; vii, 3, 2) to Kalisch {Comm. on Gen, p. 3G0), with one voice affirm that Salem is Jerusalem, on the ground that Jerusalem is so called in Psa. Ixxvi, 2, the Psalmist, after the manner of poets, or from some exigency of his poem, making use of the archaic name in preference to that in common use (see Keland, Pal- cestina, p. 833). The Christians of the 4th century held the same belief with the Jews, as is evident from an expression of Jerome (" nostri omnes," E/h ad Ecanye- lum, § 7), and Eusebius (in the Onomast. s. v.).
Here it is sufficient to say (1) that Jerusalem suits the circumstances of the narrative rather better than any place farther north, or more in the heart of the country. It would be quite as much in Abraham's road, going from the sources of Jordan to his home under the oaks of Hebron, and it would be more suitable for the visit of the king of Sodom. In fact, we know that, in later times at least, the usual route from Damascus avoided the central highlands of the country and the neighborhood of Shechem, where Salim is now shown (see Pompey's route in Josephus, .4 ?;^ xiv, 3, 4; 4, 1). (2) It is, perhaps, some confirmation of the identity — at any rate, it is a remarkable coincidence — that the king of Jerusalem in the time of Joshua should bear the title Adoni-zedek — almost precisely the same as that of Mel- chizedek.
2. Jerome himself, however, is not of the same opin- ion. He states {Ep. ad Erany. § 7) without hesitation, though apparently (as just observed) alone in his be- lief, that the Salem of Melchizedek was not Jenisalem, but a town near Scythopolis, which in his day was still called Salem, and where the vast ruins of the palace of Melchizedek were still to be seen. Elsewhere {Ono- mast. s. V. Salem) he locates it more precisely at eight Roman miles from Scythopolis, and gives its then name as Sulumias. Further, he identifies this Salem with the Salim (q. V.) (SfrXti/t) of John the Baptist. Tliat a Salem existed where Jerome thus places it there need be no doubt; indeed, the name has been recovered at the identical distance below Beisan bj' Van de Velde, at a spot otherwise suitable for xEnon. But that this Salem, Salim, or Salumias was the Salem of Melchize- dek is even more uncertain than that Jerusalem was so. The ruins were probably as much the ruins of Mclchiz- edek's palace as the remains at Bamot cl-Khalil, three miles north of Hebron, are those of "Abraham's house." Nor is the decision assisted by a consideration of Abra- ham's homeward route. He probably brought back his party by the road along the (Jhor as far as Jericiio, and then, turning to the right, ascended to the upper level of the countrj- in the direction of iMan]re; I)ut whether he crossed the Jordan at the .lisr Bonat Vakub, above the Lake of Genncsaret, or at tlie Jisr iNIejamia, below it, he would equally pass by both Scythopolis and Jerusa- lem. At the same time, it must be confessed that tht distance of Salem (at least eighty miles from the prob- able position of Sodom) makes it difficult to suppose that the king of Sodom can have advanced so far to
SALEM
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SALIG
meet Abraham, adds its vciglit to the statement that the n)celhii; took jilace after Abraham liad returned— not during liis return, and is tlius so far in favor of Salem bein^- Jerusalem. See Mklciiizkdek.
3. Professor Ewald (6'fi-c7jic/(/c,i,410,note) pronounces that Salem is a town on the further side of Jordan, on the road from Damascus to Sodom, quoting at the same time Jolui iii, 23 ; but tliere seems to be no authority for this, nor any notice of tlie existence of tlie name in that direction either in former or recent times.
4. A tradition given by Eupolcmus, a writer known only through fragments preserved in the Prcrparatio Evivujelica of Euscbius (ix, 17), differs in some impor- tant points from the Biblical account. According to this, the meeting took place in the sanctuary of the citj' Argarizin, which is interpreted by Eupolemus to mean '• tiic Mountain of the Most High." "-J rf/arizi)i" (Pliny uses nearly the same form — Argaris, //. X. v, 14) is, of course, liar-Gerizzim, Mount Gerizim. The source of the tradition is, therefore, probably Samaritan, since the encounter of Abraham and Melchizedek is one of the ever.tj to which the Samaritans lay claim for Mount Gerizim. But it may also proceed from the identifica- tion of Salem with Shechem, which, lying at the foot of Gerizim, would easily be confounded with the moun- tain itself. See Shalkji.
5. A Salem is mentioned in Jud. iv, 4 among the places which were seized and fortified by the Jews on the approach of Holofernes. '• The valley of Salem," as it appears in the A. V. {tov avXwva 2nX///0> i* pos- sibly, as lieland has ingeniously suggested {Pakest. p. 977 j, a corruption of tig avXiova tig I'aX*;/* — "into the plain to Salem." If Ai'Awi' is here, according to fre- quent usage, the Jordan valley, then the Salem referred to must surely be that mentioned by Jerome and al- ready noticed. But in this passage it may be with equal probability the broad plain of the Mukhna which stretches from Ebal and Gerizim, on the one hand, to the hills on which Salim stands, on the other, which is said to be still called the "plain of Salim" (Porter, Handbook, p. 340 a), and through which runs the cen- tral north road of the country. Or, as is perhaps still more likely, it refers to another Salim near Zerin (Jez- reel), and to the plain whicli runs up between those two places as far as Jenin, and which lay directly in the route of the Assyrian army. Tiicre is nothing to show that the invaders reached as far into the interior of the country as the plain of the Mukhna. The other places enumerated in the verse seem, as far as they can be recognised, to be points which guarded the main approaches to the interior (one of the chief of which was by Jezreel and Engannin), not towns in the interi- or itself, like Shechem or the Salem near it. See Ju- dith, Book of.