Salt, City Of
the fifth of the six cities of Judah which lay in the “wilderness.” (Joshua 15:62) Mr. Robinson
expresses his belief that it lay somewhere near the plain at the south end of the Salt Sea.
Salt, Valley Of
a valley in which occurred two memorable victories of the Israelite arms:
•That of David over the Edomites. (2 Samuel 8:13; 1 Chronicles 18:12)
•That of Amaziah. (2 Kings 14:7; 2 Chronicles 25:11) It is perhaps the broad open plain which lies
at the lower end of the Dead Sea, and intervenes between the lake itself and the range of heights
which crosses the valley at six or eight miles to the south. This same view is taken by Dr. Robinson.
Others suggest that it is nearer to Petra. What little can be inferred from the narrative as to its
situation favors the latter theory.
Salu
(weighed), the father of Zimri the prince of the Simeonites who was slain by Phinehas. (Numbers
25:14) Called also Salom. (B.C.1452.)
Salutation
Salutations may be classed under the two heads of conversational and epistolary. The salutation
at meeting consisted in early times of various expressions of blessing, such as “God be gracious
unto thee,” (Genesis 43:29) “The Lord be with you;” “The Lord bless thee.” (Ruth 2:4) Hence the
term “bless” received the secondary sense of “salute.” The salutation at parting consisted originally
of a simple blessing, (Genesis 24:60) but in later times the form “Go in peace,” or rather “Farewell”
(1 Samuel 1:17) was common. In modern times the ordinary mode of address current in the East
resembles the Hebrew Es-selam aleykum, “Peace be on you,” and the term “salam,” peace, has
been introduced into our own language to describe the Oriental salutation. In epistolary salutations
the writer placed-his own name first, and then that of the person whom he sainted. A form of prayer
for spiritual mercies was also used. The concluding salutation consisted generally of the term “I
salute,” accompanied by a prayer for peace or grace.
Samaria
(watch mountain). This city is situated 30 miles north of Jerusalem and about six miles to the
northwest of Shechem, in a wide basin-shaped valley, six miles in diameter, encircled with high
hills, almost on the edge of the great plain which borders upon the Mediterranean. In the centre of
this basin, which is on a lower level than the valley of Shechem, rises a less elevated hill, with steep
yet accessible sides and a long fiat top. This hill was chosen by Omri as the site of the capital of
the kingdom of Israel. He “bought the hill of Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built
on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of the owner of the hill,
Samaria.” (1 Kings 16:23,24) From the that of Omri’s purchase, B.C. 925, Samaria retained its
dignity as the capital of the ten tribes, and the name is given to the northern kingdom as well as to
the city. Ahab built a temple to Baal there. (1 Kings 16:32,33) It was twice besieged by the Syrians,
in B.C. 901, (1 Kings 20:1) and in B.C. 892, (2 Kings 6:24-7; 2 Kings 6:20) but on both occasions
the siege was ineffectual. The possessor of Samaria was considered Deuteronomy facto king of
Israel. (2 Kings 15:13,14) In B.C. 721 Samaria was taken, after a siege of three years, by Shalmaneser
king of Assyria, (2 Kings 18:9,10) and the kingdom of the ten tribes was put an end to. Some years
afterward the district of which Samaria was the centre was repeopled by Esarhaddon. Alexander
the Great took the city, killed a large portion of the inhabitants, and suffered the remainder to set
it at Shechem. He replaced them by a colony of Syro-Macedonians who occupied the city until the
frankie
(Frankie)
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