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 use ma·laʹkhe but aʹli·ma (“salt herbs,” Bagster’s LXX), and aʹli·ma, like mal·luʹahh, is thought to refer either to the salty taste of the plant or to the region where it grows.

The plant most frequently suggested as corresponding to the mal·luʹahh of the Bible is “sea purslane” (Atriplex halimus). Ordinarily this bushy shrub grows one to three feet (.3 to .9 meter) high, but on the shores of the Dead Sea plants measuring as much as ten feet (3 meters) in height have been encountered. The plant has small, thick, sour-tasting leaves and, in the spring, it bears tiny purple flowers. Sea air is vital to its existence.

SALT SEA

One of the Biblical designations for the large lake or sea now generally known as the Dead Sea. The Salt Sea forms the southern termination of the Jordan River.

NAME

The first and most frequent designation of this sea in the Bible, “Salt Sea,” is quite appropriate since it is the saltiest body of water on the earth. (Gen. 14:3; Num. 34:3, 12; Josh. 15:2, 5) It is also called the Sea of the Arabah (Deut. 4:49; 2 Ki. 14:25), being in the huge rift of which the Arabah is a part. Sometimes, though, the name “Salt Sea” is added after “Sea of the Arabah” as if to explain exactly which body of water is meant by the later name. (Deut. 3:17; Josh. 3:16; 12:3) The Salt Sea was on the E boundary of the Promised Land and was termed the “eastern sea,” thus distinguishing it from the “western [Mediterranean] sea.” (Ezek. 47:18; Joel 2:20; Zech. 14:8) Josephus, who was aware that large pieces of bitumen or asphalt occasionally surface in this sea, called it Lake Asphaltites. Evidently it was not until the second century C.E. that it came to be called the Dead Sea. The Arabic name is Bahr Lut, “Sea of Lot.”

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The Salt Sea is oblong, about ten miles (16 kilometers) wide and approximately forty-seven miles (76 kilometers) long, the length varying somewhat according to the season. Its outline is interrupted on the SE side by a large peninsula called the Lisan (“the tongue”), shaped like a boot with its toe pointing N. This peninsula reaches to within two miles (3 kilometers) of the W shore and so divides the sea into two sections. The portion embayed S of the Lisan is quite shallow, usually three to fifteen feet (.9 to 4.5 meters), while the main part of the sea in the N reaches a depth of 1,310 feet (399 meters). The surface of the water is 1,292 feet (394 meters) below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, making it the lowest spot on earth.

The E shore (N of the Lisan) consists mainly of sandstone cliffs that rise steeply to the plateau of Moab. Several gorges, the most prominent being the Arnon, cut through these barren hills and empty water into the sea. To the E and S of the peninsula lies a plain that is well watered with streams. The S end of the sea is a flat salt marsh. On the W side the limestone cliffs are not as precipitous as those on the E. These Judean hills are more terraced and receding, but very desolate, since no permanent streams cut through to the sea. The beach and slopes near the shore allow travel along the W side. On a high mesa opposite the Lisan is Masada, the fortress that Herod strengthened and where the Romans defeated the last of the Jewish rebels in 73 C.E. Farther N is the oasis En-gedi. At the N end, the Jordan empties into the sea, mixing its fresh water with the extremely salty water of the sea.

WATER

The water of the sea is unique in that it is about 25 percent solids, mostly common salt (sodium chloride), making it about four to six times as salty as the oceans. Each day some 6,500,000 tons of fresh water pour into the Salt Sea, mainly from the Jordan. The Salt Sea has no outlet, so most of the water coming into it evaporates in the intense heat, leaving behind more mineral salts. The salt concentration is such that no fish, even saltwater varieties, are able to live; the few fish in the brackish water where fresh water mixes with the salt water are killed if they are swept into the sea proper. This adds meaning to Ezekiel’s description of a torrent flowing from Jehovah’s temple into the “eastern sea” and healing the upper portion so that it abounded in fish like the Mediterranean Sea and could support a flourishing fishing industry. (Ezek. 47:8-10, 18) The high density of the water causes objects to float easily, and it contributes to a smooth surface because the water is not ruffled by light breezes.

SODOM AND GOMORRAH

It is generally believed that Sodom and Gomorrah were located on land now covered by the portion of the Salt Sea S of the Lisan Peninsula. The kings of these cities were among those who battled in “the Low Plain of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea,” and the way this is phrased suggests that the Low Plain of Siddim came to be covered by the Salt Sea. (Gen. 14:3) The region of Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot settled was ‘well watered, like the garden of Jehovah.’ (Gen. 13:10-12) Even today, in the plain along the SE shore, vegetation is abundant, and wheat, barley, dates and vines can be grown there. The large amounts of bitumen and salt, especially in this southern section, also match the Biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah.—Gen. 14:10; 19:24-26.

SALT, VALLEY OF

A valley where, on two occasions, the Israelites defeated the Edomites. (2 Sam. 8:13; 2 Ki. 14:7) Its precise location is uncertain, but scholars have generally recommended either of two locations, one near Beer-sheba and the other to the S of the Salt Sea.

East from Beer-sheba in the Negeb is a valley the Arabic name of which (Wadi el-Milh) means Valley of Salt. The location is one where Judeans from the N might conceivably meet in combat Edomites coming from the SE. However, some authorities, preferring a location in Edom’s territory, identify the Scriptural Valley of Salt with a plain S-SW of the Salt Sea. At present, the low land S of the Salt Sea is quite marshy and hardly a location that would be chosen for a battle. But, since the level of the Salt Sea is rising, the plain may have been more firm at the time the battles occurred, or the fighting could have begun in a portion of the valley where the ground was not marshy. After the second conflict 10,000 Edomites were hurled to their deaths from a crag, but the location of that crag is not stated.—2 Chron. 25:11, 12.

In the first battle, David and Joab (evidently with Abishai in charge of at least some of the troops) struck down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. (2 Sam. 8:13; 1 Ki. 11:15; 1 Chron. 18:12; Ps. 60 superscription) Later, King Amaziah (858-829 B.C.E.) attacked and slaughtered 10,000 Edomites in the same valley following this with the execution of 10,000 Edomites who were captured, as well as the seizing of the Edomite stronghold Sela (Petra).—2 Ki. 14:7; 2 Chron. 25:11, 12.

SALU

(Saʹlu).

A Simeonite whose son Zimri was executed for immorality on the plains of Moab.—Num. 25:14.

SALVATION

See RANSOM; SAVIOR.

SALVE

The spiritually blind Christians in the Laodicean congregation were urged to buy ‘eyesalve, to rub in their eyes that they may see.’ (Rev. 3:17, 18) The Greek word for eyesalve (kol·louʹri·on) literally means a roll or cake of coarse bread, suggesting that the salve was likely made up into small cakes or