Biblical Hebrew Forum

[joel AT exc.com]

>1.  Does the reference to ?salt sea? (yod-mem he-mem-lamed-heth/YM HMLX, 
>literally ?salt the sea?) at Genesis 14: 3 refer to the Dead Sea, or to the 
>Mediterranean Sea?

The Dead Sea.  It is a methodological mistake to look at the literal
meaning of the phrase ("sea of salt") to try to figure out which body
of water it refers to.  Of course the Mediterranean also has salt, but
that fact is irrelevant.

Consider a similar example: there are parts of the Atlantic Ocean that
are calm, but the "Pacific Ocean" can't ever mean the Atlantic Ocean.
For that matter, the Mediterranean is calmer that either one, but
"Pacific Ocean" doesn't mean "Mediterranean Sea," either.

-Joel




Joel M. Hoffman, PhD
http://www.lashon.net

Director of Education
Temple Israel of Northern Westchester
http://www.TINW-School.org
http://blog.TINW-School.org