King’s Vale

KING’s VALE (עֵ֥מֶק הַמֶּֽלֶכְ). A broad valley in which the king of Sodom met Abraham (Gen 14:17; KJV KING’s DALE), and where Absalom set up a pillar or monument (2 Sam 18:18; KJV, ASV KING’s DALE). It was identical with the Valley of Shaveh, and was evidently near Salem, the city of which Melchizedek was king. Article 2 (`emeq ha-melekh; Septuagint in Ge reads to pedion ("the plain") basileos, in 2 Sam, he koilas ("valley") tou basileos; the King James Version King’s Dale): The place where the king of Sodom met Abram (Ge 14:17), and the situation of Absalom’s monument (2Sa 18:18). It was identical with the Vale of Shaveh, and was evidently near Salem, the city of Melchizedek (Ge 14:17). If SALEM (which see) is Jerusalem, then Absalom’s pillar was also near that city, Josephus writes (Ant., VII, x, 3), "Absalom had erected for himself a marble pillar in the king’s dale, two furlongs (stadia) from Jerusalem, which he named Absalom’s Hand." In all probability this "pillar" was a rough