for Saturn (a star god). However, in the Septuagint Version the expression “Sakkuth your king” reads “the tent of Moloch,” and Stephen, who probably quoted the Septuagint, also used the words “the tent of Moloch.” (Acts 7:43) This suggests that “Sakkuth” may be understood as denoting a portable shrine, a tent or booth, in which the idol image of Moloch was housed.—See ASTROLOGERS.

SALAMIS

(Salʹa·mis).

An important city of Cyprus. Paul, Barnabas and John Mark ‘published the word of God’ there near the start of Paul’s first missionary tour in 47 C.E. How long they stayed in the city is not stated. Apparently there was a large Jewish population in Salamis, as it had more than one synagogue.—Acts 13:2-5.

Salamis is usually identified with the ruins found some three miles (5 kilometers) N of the modern city of Famagusta. This would place it at the E end of a large fertile plain, just N of the river Pedias (Pediaeus). Salamis would thus be some 130 miles (c. 209 kilometers) W-SW across the Mediterranean Sea from Seleucia, where Paul had left Syria. Though the Bible does not specifically say that the ship on which Paul traveled anchored in a harbor at Salamis, the city once had a good harbor that is now silted up.

It appears that Salamis was connected by at least one road with Paphos, at the other end of the island. This could have facilitated travel for Paul and his associates as they preached through the “whole island as far as Paphos.”—Acts 13:4-6.

Barnabas and John Mark likely visited Salamis again in about 49 C.E.—Acts 15:36-39.

SALECAH

(Salʹe·cah).

A city at the eastern limit of Bashan, and part of the domain of Og. Taken by Israel under Moses, Salecah came to be inhabited by Gadites. (Deut. 3:8, 10; Josh. 12:4, 5; 13:8, 11; 1 Chron. 5:11) It is usually identified with Salkhad, situated on a southern extension of Jebel el-Druze (Jebel Hauran), some seventy miles (113 kilometers) E-SE of the southern end of the Sea of Galilee.

SALEM

(Saʹlem) [peace].

An ancient city where Melchizedek was king and priest. (Gen. 14:18) The Hebrew spelling of “Salem” suggests a dual form and, therefore, the word may be defined as “twofold peace.” That the name means “peace” is confirmed by the inspired words of Hebrews 7:2.

Ancient Jewish tradition identifies Salem with Jerusalem, and Scriptural evidence supports this. Abraham met the king of Sodom and Melchizedek in the “king’s Low Plain.” As it was there that King David’s son Absalom centuries later erected a monument, this low plain must have been near Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom. (Gen. 14:17, 18; 2 Sam. 18:18) The word “Salem” is, in fact, incorporated in the name “Jerusalem,” and the psalmist used it in parallel with “Zion.” (Ps. 76:2) Also, it would have been fitting for Melchizedek to be king and priest in the very place where later the kings of the Davidic line and the Levitical priesthood served and where Jesus Christ, the one chosen to be a king and priest “according to the manner of Melchizedek,” was offered in sacrifice.—Heb. 3:1; 7:1-3, 15-17.

SALIM

(Saʹlim) [possibly from an Aramaic or Hebrew word meaning completed].

A place mentioned at John 3:23 to help locate Aenon, where John the Baptist baptized persons. Hence, Salim must have been well known at the time. Today its situation and that of Aenon are both uncertain. However, see AENON.

SALLAI

(Sal·laʹi).

1. A name in the list of Benjamites who lived in Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile.—Neh. 11:4, 7, 8.

2. A priestly paternal house in the days of High Priest Jeshua’s successor Joiakim. (Neh. 12:12, 20) Presumably the name is spelled Sallu in verse 7.

SALLU

(Salʹlu).

1. A postexilic Benjamite resident of Jerusalem; son of Meshullam.—1 Chron. 9:3, 7; Neh. 11:7.

2. A priestly family head who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. (Neh. 12:1, 7) In the list at verse 20 of later paternal houses, the name Sallai appears at the corresponding place.

SALMA

(Salʹma).

1. Descendant of Judah and ancestor of David. (1 Chron. 2:3-5, 9-15) He is also called Salmon.—Ruth 4:12, 18-22; Luke 3:32; see SALMON.

2. Forefather of those who settled in places such as Bethlehem, Netophah and Atroth-beth-joab. (1 Chron. 2:51, 54; see ATROTH-BETH-JOAB.) Salma was a son of Hur in the Calebite branch of Judah’s genealogy.—1 Chron. 2:4, 5, 9, 18, 19, 50, 51.

SALMAI

(Salʹmai).

One of the Nethinim whose descendants returned to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E.—Ezra 2:1, 2, 43, 46; Neh. 7:48.

SALMON

(Salʹmon).

The son of Judah’s chieftain Nahshon, likely born during the forty-year wilderness trek. Salmon married Rahab of Jericho, by whom he fathered Boaz. He was, therefore, a link in the genealogical line leading to David and Jesus. (Num. 2:3; Ruth 4:20-22; Matt. 1:4, 5; Luke 3:32) In 1 Chronicles 2:11 he is called Salma. However, this descendant of Ram, Salmon, whose progeny lived in Bethlehem, should not be confused with the Salma mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:51, 54 as the “father” or builder of Bethlehem, for the latter was a descendant of Ram’s brother Caleb.—Compare 1 Chronicles 2:9, 18.

SALMONE

(Sal·moʹne).

A promontory of Crete, generally identified with Cape Sidero at the eastern extremity of the island. Paul sailed past Salmone in 58 C.E. on his way to Rome for trial. However, strong winds apparently did not permit the vessel, en route from Cnidus, to sail N of Crete past the southern tip of Greece and on to Rome. Forced southward, the craft passed Salmone and thereafter had some protection from the wind while sailing along Crete’s southern shores.—Acts 27:7.

SALOME

(Sa·loʹme) [peace].

1. A comparison of Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40 may indicate that Salome was the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James and John the apostles of Jesus Christ. The former text names two of the Marys, namely, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James (the Less) and Joses; with these it also mentions the mother of the sons of Zebedee as being present at Jesus’ impalement; while the latter text names the woman with the two Marys as Salome.

It is conjectured on similar grounds that Salome was also the fleshly sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. This has been suggested because the scripture at John 19:25 names the same two Marys, Mary Magdalene and “the wife of Clopas” (generally understood to be the mother of James the Less and Joses), and also says: “By the torture stake of Jesus, however, there were standing his mother and the sister of his mother.” If this text (aside from mentioning Jesus’ mother) is speaking of the same three persons mentioned by Matthew and Mark (in the foregoing paragraph), it would indicate that Salome was the sister of Jesus’ mother. On the other hand, Matthew 27:55 and Mark 15:40, 41 state that there were many other women present who had accompanied Jesus, and therefore Salome may have been among them.

Salome was a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, among the women accompanying him and ministering to him from their belongings, as Matthew and Mark, also Luke (8:3) imply. If her identification as the mother of Zebedee’s sons is accurate, she was the one who approached Jesus with the request that her sons be granted seats on the right and the left of Jesus in his kingdom. Matthew depicts the mother as making the request, while Mark shows James and John doing the asking. Apparently the boys had the desire and induced their mother to make the request. This is supported by Matthew’s report that, on hearing about the request, the other disciples became indignant, not at the mother, but at the two brothers.—Matt. 20:20-23; Mark 10:35-40.

At the break of dawn on the third day after Jesus’ death, Salome was among the women that went to Jesus’ tomb to rub his body with spices, only to find the stone rolled away and, inside the tomb, an angel who announced to them: “He was raised up, he is not here. See! The place where they laid him.”—Mark 16:1-8.

2. A daughter of Herod Philip and only child of her mother Herodias. In time Herod Antipas married Salome’s mother, having adulterously taken her from his half-brother Philip. Shortly before Passover, 32 C.E., Antipas held an evening meal in Tiberias in celebration of his birthday. He invited the princess Salome, now his stepdaughter, to dance before the group, consisting of “his top-ranking men and the military commanders and the foremost ones of Galilee.” So delighted was Herod at Salome’s performance that he promised her anything she requested—up to half his kingdom. Upon her wicked mother’s advice Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod, though grieved, “out of regard for his oaths and for those reclining with him commanded it to be given; and he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the maiden, and she brought it to her mother.”—Matt. 14:1-13; Mark 6:17-29.

Though her name is not given in the Scriptures, it is preserved in the writings of Josephus. He also tells of her childless marriage to the district ruler Philip, another half brother of Antipas. After Philip’s death, Josephus’ account says, she married her cousin Aristobulus and bore him three sons.

SALT

The white crystalline compound of sodium chloride (NaCl), known as common salt. There are in the earth vast underground deposits of rock salt, some several thousand feet thick. The oceans of the world contain about 2.7 percent sodium chloride in solution. This may seem to be very little, yet a cubic mile of seawater holds nearly 124 million tons of salt. The Dead Sea (Salt Sea) in Palestine is up to six times as salty. (Gen. 14:3) Salt was readily available to the Israelites. Evaporation of the Dead Sea waters furnished an ample supply, although of poor quality. There were salt-bearing hills near the southern end of the Dead Sea, not far from where Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt. (Gen. 19:26; Zeph. 2:9) Supplies of salt in northern Palestine may have come, at least partly, from the Phoenicians, who, it is said, obtained it by evaporation from the Mediterranean.

Notwithstanding such virtually inexhaustible supplies, salt has not always been readily available to man. Wars and revolutions have been fought for it. In ancient China salt was second to gold in value. Wives and children have been sold into slavery just for common salt. Caesar’s soldiers received part of their pay in salt, called salarium, from which comes the English word “salary.”—Compare Ezra 4:14.

The Bible takes note of salt as an essential part of man’s diet, as a seasoning for food. (Job 6:6) Under the Mosaic law anything offered on the altar to Jehovah had to be salted, not because of flavor, but doubtless because salt represented freedom from corruption or decay. (Lev. 2:11, 13; Ezek. 43:24) Large quantities of salt evidently were stored in the temple grounds for this purpose. Ezra saw to it that plenty was on hand for the sacrifices. (Ezra 6:9; 7:21, 22) It is reported that Antiochus III (c. 198 B.C.E.) gave 375 medimni (about 562 bushels or 20,000 liters) of salt to the temple service.

Certain healing, medicinal and antiseptic values are attributed to salt. Newborn babies were sometimes rubbed with salt at birth. (Ezek. 16:4) In limited quantities salt is beneficial on certain acid soils or when mixed with manure, but if allowed to accumulate in the soil, it kills vegetation and the land becomes barren and unfruitful, as was the case with the once-fertile Euphrates valley. A city condemned to total destruction was sometimes deliberately sown with salt, this act expressing the desire that the place be perpetually barren and sterile.—Deut. 29:22, 23; Judg. 9:45; Job 39:5, 6; Jer. 17:6.

FIGURATIVE USE

Salt is often used in the Bible figuratively. Jesus told his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth,” a preserving influence on others, preventing spiritual putrefaction and moral decay. The good news they carried would preserve life. However, he went on to say to them: “but if the salt loses its strength, how will its saltness be restored? It is no longer usable for anything but to be thrown outside to be trampled on by men.” (Matt. 5:13; Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34, 35) One Bible commentator says on this: “The salt used in this country [United States] is a chemical compound—muriate of soda—and if the saltness were lost, or it were to lose its savour, there would be nothing remaining. It enters into the very nature of the substance. In eastern countries, however, the salt used was impure, mingled with vegetable and earthy substances; so that it might lose the whole of its saltness, and a considerable quantity of earthy matter remain. This was good for nothing except that it was used, as it is said, to place in paths, or walks, as we use gravel. This kind of salt is common still in that country. It is found in the earth in veins or layers, and when exposed to the sun and rain, loses its saltness entirely.”—Barnes’ Notes (1865) on Matthew 5:13.

Because salt prevented decay it became a symbol of stability and permanence. Often when covenants were made, the parties ate together—eating salt together—denoting perpetual loyalty and fidelity to one another in the covenant relationship. A “covenant of salt” therefore was considered very binding. (Num. 18:19) Accordingly, Judean King Abijah’s statement that Jehovah had made “a covenant of salt” with David and his sons meant that the covenant with David’s line for the kingship would stand forever. Jesus Christ the “son of David” and the “root of David” proves to be the one holding the Kingdom and administering its affairs forever.—2 Chron. 13:4, 5; Ps. 18:50; Matt. 1:1; Rev. 5:5; Isa. 9:6, 7.

Jesus said: “For everyone must be salted with fire” that is, purified and cleansed by Jehovah’s Word, which burns up all falsehood and error, and also by the fire of persecution, which tests and purifies one’s loyalty and devotion to Jehovah. (Jer. 20:8, 9; 23:29; Mark 9:49; 1 Pet. 1:6, 7; 4:12, 13) The apostle Paul said to Christians: “Let your utterance be always with graciousness, seasoned with salt, so as to know how you ought to give an answer to each one.” (Col. 4:6) One’s speech should always be in good taste, appetizing and having an appeal to its hearers, and should tend toward preserving the lives of those who heed it.

SALT, CITY OF

A Judean city in the wilderness. (Josh. 15:61, 62) It is sometimes tentatively connected with Khirbet Qumran, by the NW shore of the Dead Sea.

SALT HERB

This translates the Hebrew term mal·luʹahh, mentioned only once in Scripture as a food eaten by those of little account. (Job 30:4) The original-language word is considered to be derived from a root meaning “to salt” and has also been translated “salt-wort” (AS, AT, Da), “cress” (Fn), “grass” (Dy) and “mallow(s).” (AV, Le, RS) The rendering “mallows” appears to have resulted from the similarity between the Hebrew word mal·lu’ahh and the Greek word ma·laʹkhe, which is believed to be related to the English designation “mallow.” However, at Job 30:4 the translators of the Septuagint Version did not