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