Jerusalem was called Salem

    A first class blogger on his abnormal interests, Duane Smith, asks: “Was Jerusalem ever called Salem? I don’t know.” He does know, I would claim. He just forgot. There is a clear case in which Jerusalem is called Salem in the Bible. Here it is (Ps 76:2-4):

נוֹדָע בִּיהוּדָה אֱלֹהִים           בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל גָּדוֹל שְׁמֹו

וַיְהִי בְשָׁלֵם סֻכֹּו                  וּמְעוֹנָתוֹ בְצִיּוֹן

שָׁמָּה שִׁבַּר רִשְׁפֵי־קָשֶׁת        מָגֵן וְחֶ֖רֶב וּמִלְחָמָ֣ה

In Judah God made himself known;
in Israel his name was great.

His refuge was in Salem;
his lair, in Zion.

There he smashed the bow’s fiery arrows,
shield and sword and battle. 

    But Duane is right: there is no evidence in favor of the view that there was a time in which “the city was still called Salem.” While there is something to be said for the view that “Jerusalem” interpreted means “foundation of Shalem [= the god Šalim (Evening Star) at Ugarit],” it does not seem likely that Salem qua divinity or evening star is evoked in Ps 76:2-4. If a double-entendre is involved, a more likely candidate would be: “His refuge was in peace.”

 

Comments

[Brian Mitchell]

What, is the identity of שָׁלֵ֔ם in Gen 14:18?
וּמַלְכִּי־צֶ֙דֶק֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ שָׁלֵ֔ם הוֹצִ֖יא לֶ֣חֶם וָיָ֑יִן וְה֥וּא כֹהֵ֖ן לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֽוֹן׃

Is it a place or is it an adjective? If a place it is interesting that one can be a priest and a king of a local at the same time. If this place is the same as Jerusalem, I wonder if this verse really speaks of a Canaanite king-priest.

[JohnFH]

It's probably a PN = Jerusalem. The passage most likely preserves cultural memories of a distant past relative to the author thereof. At least that's the way I would read it.

[Duane]

John,

In one sense you are correct but it may be worse than you think. I did forget this Psalms passage. But I remembered that Genesis 14 passage. I even intended at one point to mention it. But mentioning would have required an explanation and I was a little stressed for time (at the time).

[JohnFH]

"Stressed for time" - and that's all right. Aren't we all?

Thanks for your post, which cleared up any conceivable misunderstandings relative to the import of the Amarna evidence.

[JohnFH]

Here is Douglas Frayne's take on Salem in Genesis 14 [from the comment thread of Duane's post]:

"The Salem found in the Abraham account in Genesis 14: 8 is a small town in the Habur Basin which appears in the Mari texts as Salaman and is to be placed at modern Syrian Tchôlâma Tahtani. It also appears in the Tell Beydar texts as Sulum. Its location is at 36°49'21.90"N 40°47'11.08E. You can see it on Google Earth."

I wonder whether Frayne has identifications for other place names and personal names in Genesis 14. Further questions are: is Genesis 14 an ethnographic narrative which makes use of historical and legendary details for the purposes of a project of cultural memory, or is it something else, for example, a prose summary of an epic narrative?

[Mike Wilson]

Is it not referred to as something close to Jerusalem in the Armarna Letters? So it would be Jerusalem at least back to that era. I figured the references to Salem are just some reinterpretation of the old name, as in the case of Jerubaal or any of the many folk etymologies in the Bible.