Dict: smith - SALEM

smith:

SALEM - S>@ - (peace). The place of which Melchizedek was king. kjv@Genesis:14:18; kjv@Hebrews: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 kjv@Psalms: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. kjv@Psalms:76:2) it is agreed on all hands that Salem is here employed for Jerusalem.