Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of salt eighteen thousand.
Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of Salt eighteen thousand. The conduct of the Edomites having provoked a war, David sent an army into their country, subdued it, and made it a tributary province of his kingdom (cf. 2 Samuel 8:13). 'At the southern extremity of the Dead Sea is a marshy flat, called by the Arabs el-Ghor probably the place where David defeated the Edomites, and which in Scripture is called "the valley of Salt." This plain in winter is often overflowed. Afterward, when the rains cease, the waters recede, and a salt, bituminous, slimy morass remains behind, which, seen from afar, from the glittering of the particles of salt, has the appearance of a sheet of water, but on a nearer approach reveals its true character' (Van de Velde, 2:, pp. 119, 120).