maeval language of Chaldaea.

We can now understand why Melchizedek should have been called the "king
of Salem." His capital could be described either as Jeru-salem or as the
city of Salem. And that it was often referred to as Salem simply is
shown by the Egyptian monuments. One of the cities of Southern
Palestine, the capture of which is represented by Ramses II. on the
walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes, is Shalam or Salem, and "the district
of Salem" is mentioned between "the country of Hadashah" (Josh. xv. 37)
and "the district of the Dead Sea" and "the Jordan," in the list of the
places which Ramses III. at Medinet Habu describes himself as having
conquered in the same part of the world.

It may be that Isaiah is playing upon the old name of Jerusalem when he
gives the Messiah the title of "Prince of Peace." But in any case the
fact that Salim, the god of peace, was the patron deity of Jerusalem,
lends a special significance to Melchizedek's treatment of Abram. The
patriarch had returned in peace from an expedition in which he had
overthrown the invaders of Canaan; he had restored peace to the country
of the priest-king, and had driven away its enemies. The offering of
bread and wine on the part of Melchizedek was a sign of freedom from the
enemy and of gratitude to the deliverer, while the tithes paid by Abram
were equally a token that the land was again at peace. The name of
Salim, the god of peace, was under one form or another widely spread in
the Semitic world. Salamanu, or Solomon, was the king of Moab in the
time of Tiglath-pileser III.; the name of Shalmaneser of Assyria is
written Sulman-asarid, "the god Sulman is chief," in the cuneiform
inscriptions; and one of the Tel el-Amarna letters was sent by
Ebed-Sullim, "the servant of Sullim," who was governor of Hazor. In one
of the Assyrian cities (Dimmen-Silim, "the foundation-stone of peace")
worship was paid to the god "Sulman the fish." Nor must we forget that
"Salma was the father of Beth-lehem" (1 Chron. ii. 51).

In the time of the Israelitish conquest the king of Jerusalem was
Adoni-zedek (Josh. x. 1). The name is similar to that of Melchi-zedek,
though the exact interpretation of it is a matter of doubt. It points,
however, to a special use of the word _zedek_, "righteousness," and it
is therefore interesting to find the word actually employed in one of
the letters of Ebed-Tob. He there says of the Pharaoh: "Behold, the king
is righteous (_zaduq_) tow