Salem. — The LXX. and Vulgate translate “his place was in peace,” and possibly the poet may use the word Salem with the thought in his mind of the peace won by God for Judah, or, again, it may be only a poet’s preference for an ancient over a modern name; but the identification of the Salem of Genesis 14:18 with Jerusalem is too doubtful to allow much weight to this view. (See the whole question discussed in Sir G. Grove’s article on “Salem,” in Smith’s Bibl. Dict.)
Tabernacle... dwelling-place. — These renderings quite obliterate the image, which is that of a beast of prey crouching ready for its spring. Translate,
“In Salem is his covert,
And his lair in Sion.”
and for these meanings of the Hebrew words sokh and meônah comp. Psalms 10:9; Jeremiah 25:38; Psalms 104:22; Amos 3:4.