Salem

There are various places called by this name. The first we meet with in Scripture is where Melchizedek is said to be king of Salem. (Gen. 14. 18.) Jerusalem and Salem in Scripture are one. In Salem, saith the Psalmist, speaking of JEHOVAH, is his tabernacle, and his dwelling in Zion. (Ps. l26. 2.) There was a Shalem also in the country of the Shechemites, were Jacob in his travels came. (Gen. 33. 18.) And it is more than probable that the Salim where John baptised was a distinct place known by this name. The name itself isShalam, peace. Hence when Gideon was visited by the angel under the oak at Ophrah, at the close of the interview he built an altar unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah Shalom - - that is, as the margin of the Bible renders it, the Lord send peace. (Judg. vi, 24.)

Sa´lem (Peace), the original name of Jerusalem (Gen 14:18; Heb 7:1-2), and which continued to be used poetically in later times (Psa 76:2) [JERUSALEM].

Peace\par 1. An ancient name of Jerusalem, Gen 14:18 Heb 7:1,3, afterwards applied to it poetically, Psa 76:2 .\par 2. A city of the Shechemites, east of Sychar, Gen 33:18 .\par

Sa’lem. (peace).

1. The place of which Melchizedek was king. Gen 14:18; Heb 7:1-2. No satisfactory identification of it is perhaps possible. Two main opinions have been current from the earliest ages of interpretation:

(1). That of the Jewish commentators, who affirm that Salem is Jerusalem, on the ground that Jerusalem is so called in Psa 76:2. Nearly all Jewish commentators hold this opinion.

(2). Jerome, however, states that the Salem of Melchizedek was not Jerusalem, but a town eight Roman miles south of Scythopolis, and gives its then name as Salumias, and identifies it with Salem, where John baptized.

2. Psa 76:2. It is agreed, on all hands, that Salem is here employed for Jerusalem.

("peace".) The oldest name, Jehus the next, Jerusalem ("seeing", or "the foundation of peace") the latest, of Jerusalem. The cities of the plain were probably S. of the Dead Sea; so Salem is Jerusalem, and "the king’s dale" the valley of the Kedron. The theory of their being N. of the Dead Sea is what necessitates its upholders to seek Salem far north of Jerusalem (Gen 14:17-18). But no king of Salem distinct from Jerusalem is mentioned among the kings conquered by Joshua. Moreover, Adonizedek ("lord of righteousness") king of Jerusalem (Jos 10:3) was plainly successor of Melchizedek ("king of righteousness"), it was the common title of the Jebusite kings. Further, "the king’s dale" (2Sa 18:18), identified in Gen 14:17 with Shaveh, is placed by Josephus and by tradition (the targum of Onkelos) near Jerusalem (Heb 7:1-2). Lastly, Psalm 76 identifies Salem with Jerusalem.

Salem (sâ’lem), peace. The city of Melchizedek. Gen 14:18; Heb 7:1-2. Jewish commentators affirm that Salem is Jerusalem, on the ground that Jerusalem is so called in Psa 76:2. Nearly all Jewish commentators hold this opinion. Jerome, however, states that the Salem of Melchizedek was not Jerusalem, but a town eight Roman miles south of Scythopolis, and identifies it with Salim, where John baptized. See Salim.

[Sa’lem]

1. Symbolical name given to Jerusalem. Psa 76:2.

2. Probably the title of Melchisedec as king of peace, Gen 14:18; Heb 7:1-2. Various cities, however, have been suggested. Some consider that Jerusalem is alluded to; Jerome was convinced that a town near Scythopolis, named Salem, was the true place; but others judge it to be a title.

( = "peaceful" or "whole"):

By: Joseph Jacobs, M. Seligsohn

Name of a place, first mentioned in connection with Abraham's return from the battle with Chedorlaomer, when Melchizedek, King of Salem, went to meet him (Gen. xiv. 18). Josephus ("Ant." i. 10, § 2; "B. J." vi. 10), the three Targumim, all the later Jewish commentators, and Jerome ("Quæstiones in Genesin," ad loc., and "Epistola LXXIII., ad Evangelum de Melchisedech, § 2), believing "Salem" to be a shortened form of "Jerusalem," identify it with the latter place (comp. Eusebius, "Onomasticon," s.v. 'Ιερουσαλήμ). This identification is supported by the expression "In Salem also is his tabernacle" (Ps. lxxvi. 2), which undoubtedly refers to Jerusalem. Still Jerome himself, alluding probably to the Biblical indication that Salem was in the neighborhood of the valley called "the valley of Shaveh" (Gen. xiv. 17), identifies ("Epistola," l.c. § 7; "Onomasticon," s.v. "Salem" and "Aenon") Salem with the Salim of John iii. 23, now called Salamias, which is situated in the Jordan valley, eight miles south of Scythopolis. The Septuagint reads in Jer. xli. 5 "Salem" for "Shiloh," correcting into , and referring to Shalem, a city near Shechem (Gen. xxxiii. 18). In Judith iv. 4 occurs "to the valley of Salem," which Reland ("Palestine," p. 977) suggests should be amended to read "into the valley [the Jordan valley] to Salem." This place is apparently the Salamias of Jerome.

SALEM.—1. A place mentioned only in Gen 14:16 as the kingdom of the mysterious Melchizedek (wh. see). It is natural to identify it with Jerusalem (wh. see), especially since the Tell el-Amarna tablets show that Urusalîm existed as a name for that city even before the Israelite Immigration. But the only real links between ‘Salem’ and Jerusalem’ are two in number: (1) the mention of the ‘King’s Vale,’ where, apparently, Melchizedek met Abram, which seems to be the place where Absalom reared his memorial (2Sa 18:18): it would presumably be somewhere near Jerusalem, but, pace Josephus, this is not certain. (2) The allusion to Jerusalem by the name Salem in Psa 76:2. This poetical abbreviation, however, which occurs nowhere else, may have been suggested by Salem in the ancient record, just as was the name Moriah (wh. see), and the reference to Melchizedek in Psa 110:4. There is some similarity between the name of Melchizedek and that of the Jebusite king Adonizedek (Jos 10:1), but upon the whole the identification of Salem with Jerusalem is rather shadowy. Jerome records another tradition, connecting Salem with Salîm (Salumias) in the Jordan Valley, where there is a tell with the tomb of “Sheik Selîm.’ 2. The Valley of Salem (Jdt 4:4), possibly the Jordan Valley, or a part of it. 3, The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] reads Salem for Shiloh in Jer 41:5. This must be a Salem near Shechem, if this reading is to be followed. There is a place called Salîm, east of Nâblus.

R. A. S. Macalister.

Original name of Jerusalem.

(SALMANSWEILER)Also called Salomonis Villa on account of the resemblance of its primitive buildings to Solomon’s Temple.Salem is an abbey situated near the Castle of Heiligenberg, about ten miles from Constance, Baden (Germany). The abbey was founded by Gunthram of Adelsreute (d. 1138) in 1136 during the reign of Pope Innocent II and Emperor Lothair II. Gunthram also gave the Abbot of Lucelle the necessary lands for the first Cistercian monastery in Alsace, the latter being a foundation of Bellevaux, first daughter of Morimond. Blessed Frowin, formerly the travelling companion and interpreter of St. Bernard, became its first abbot. He had been professed at Bellevaux, and was of the colony sent to found Lucelle; hence have arisen misunderstandings, some maintaining, erroneously, that Salem was founded from Bellevaux.Under the wise and prudent administration of Blessed Frowin and his successors, the abbey soon became very prosperous. Extensive and magnificent buildings, erected in three squares, and a splendid church were constructed between 1182 and 1311. Salem was noted as the richest and most beautiful monastery in Germany, being particularly renowned for its hospitality. Amongst its greatest benefactors and patrons were Conrad of Swabia and Frederick Barbarossa. The former placed the abbey under the special protection of himself and his successors — hence the title of "Royal Abbey" which was renewed several times under Barbarossa and his successors; Innocent II also took the abbey under his particular patronage. Its growth was continuous, and even after having made three important foundations — Raitenhauslach (1143), Maristella or Wettingen (1227), and Konigsbrunn (1288) — it numbered 285 monks at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Its abbot, from 1454 on, was privileged to confer subdeaconship on his monks. The abbey gradually declined, though it numbered forty-nine priests and thirteen other choir religious in 1698, when Abbot D. Stephen (d. 1725) became Vicar-General of the Cistercian Congregation of Upper Germany. Caspar Oexle, who, as librarian, had increased the library to 30,000 volumes and a great number of MSS., was elected abbot in March 1802; in September of the same year the abbey was suppressed and given to the Princes of Baden, while the library was added to that of Petershausen, and finally sold to the University of Heidelberg. The church became a parish church; the grand tower with its fifteen bells, the largest weighing 10,000 lbs., was destroyed (1805), and the other buildings were used as the grand duke’s castle. Eberhard, its fifth abbot, is honoured as a Blessed of the order. He was made Archbishop of Salzburg, and entrusted with various important missions by the Holy See. Blessed Henry, a lay brother, is also mentioned in the Cistercian menology.-----------------------------------VON WEECH, codex diplomaticus salemitanus (3 vols., Carlsruhe, 1883-95); PETRI, Suevia eccles. (Augsburg, 1698); BUCELINUS, Aquila imperii benedictina (Venice, 1651); Gallia christ., V; Idea chrono-topo-graphica Cong. Cist. S. Bernardi per Superiorem Germaniam (1720); HAUTINGER, Suddeutsche Kloster vor 100 Jahren (Cologne, 1889); SARTORIUS, Cistercium bistertium (Prague, 1700); BRUNNER, Ein Cisterziensbuch (Wurzburg, 1881); BOTTCHER, Germania sacra (Leipzig, 1874); JANAUSCHEK, Orig. Cisterc., I (Vienna, 1877).EDMOND M. OBRECHT Transcribed by Stan Walker For Jack and Brigitte Arnold The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

sā´lem (שׁלם, shālēm; Σαλήμ, Salḗm): The name of the city of which Melchizedek was king (Gen 14:18; Heb 7:1, Heb 7:2; compare Psa 76:2).

1. Identification and Meaning:

To all appearance it lay near “the Vale of Shaveh,” described as “the King’s Vale.” The general opinion among the Jews was that Salem was the same as Jerusalem, as stated by Josephus (Ant., I, x, 2), who adds (VII, iii, 2) that it was known as Solyma (Σόλυμα, Sóluma, variants, according to Whiston, Salem and Hierosolyma) in the time of Abraham. It was also reported that the city and its temple were called Solyma by Homer, and he adds that the name in Hebrew means “security.” This identification with Jerusalem was accepted by Onkelos and all the Targums, as well as by the early Christians. The Samaritans have always identified Salem with Salim, East of Nablūs, but Jewish and Christian tradition is more likely to be correct, supported, as it is, by Psa 76:2.

2. Testimony of Tell El-Amarna Tablets:

The testimony of the Tell el-Amarna Letters is apparently negative. Knudtzon’s number 287 mentions “the land” and “the lands of Urusalim,” twice with the prefix for “city”; number 289 likewise has this prefix twice; and number 290 refers to “the city” or “a city of the land Urusalim called Bı̂t-Ninip” Tablets (Beth-Anušat (?)). As there is no prefix of any kind before the element salim, it is not probable that this is the name of either a man (the city’s founder) or a god (like the Assyrian Šulmanu). The form in Sennacherib’s inscriptions (compare Taylor Cylinder, III, 50), Ursalimmu, gives the whole as a single word in the nominative, the double m implying that the i was long. As the Assyrians pronounced s as sh, it is likely that the Urusalimites did the same, hence, the Hebrew y^erûshālaim, with sh. See JERUSALEM.

See Jerusalem, Melchizedek.