Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Saffron
(yellow). (Song of Solomon 4:14) Saffron has front the earliest times been in high esteem as a
perfume. “It was used,” says Rosenmuller, “for the same purposes as the modern pot-pourri.” The
word saffron is derived from the Arabic zafran, “yellow.” (The saffron (Crocus sativus) is a kind
of crocus of the iris family. It is used its a medicine, as a flavoring and as a yellow dye. Homer,
Virgil and Milton refer to its beauty in the landscape. It abounds in Palestine name saffron is usually
applied only to the stigmas and part of the style, which are plucked out and dried.—ED.)
Sala, Or Salah
(sprout), the son of Arphaxad, and father of Eber. (Genesis 10:24; 11:18-14; Luke 3:35) (B.C.
2307.)
Salamis
(suit), a city at the east end of the island of Cyprus, and the first place visited by Paul and
Barnabas, on the first missionary journey, after leaving the mainland at Seleucia. Here alone, among
all the Greek cities visited by St. Paul, we read expressly of “synagogues” in the plural, (Acts 13:5)
hence we conclude that there were many Jews in Cyprus. And this is in harmony with what we
read elsewhere. Salamis was not far from the modern Famagousta, it was situated near a river called
the Pediaeus, on low ground, which is in fact a continuation of the plain running up into the interior
toward the place where Nicosia, the present capital of Cyprus, stands.
Salathiel
(I have asked of God). (1 Chronicles 3:17) The Authorized Version has Salathiel in (1 Chronicles
3:17) but everywhere else in the Old Testament Shealtiel.
Salcah, Or Salchah
(migration), a city named in the early records of Israel as the extreme limit of Bashan, (3:10;
Joshua 13:11) and of the tribe of Gad. (1 Chronicles 5:71) On another occasion the name seems to
denote a district rather than a town. (Joshua 12:5) It is identical with the town of Sulkhad (56 miles
east of the Jordan, at the southern extremity of the Hauran range of mountains. The place is nearly
deserted, though it contains 800 stone houses, many of them in a good state of preservation.-ED.)
Salem
(peace).
•The place of which Melchizedek was king. (Genesis 14:18; 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 (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.
•(Psalms 76:2) it is agreed on all hands that Salem is here employed for Jerusalem.
Salim
(peace), a place named (John 3:23) to denote the situation of AEnon, the scene of St. John’s
last baptisms; Salim being the well-known town, and AEnon a place of fountains or other waters
near it. [Salem] The name of Salim has been discovered by Mr. Van Deuteronomy Velde in a
position exactly in accordance with the notice of Eusebius, viz., six English miles south of Beisan
(Scythopolis), end two miles west of the Jordan. Near here is an abundant supply of water.
Salma, Or Salmon
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William Smith