Salcah

Salcah (UPDV: Salecah) is a Transjordan city named four times in the canon, always as an outer-edge marker of Bashan — first under Og's rule, then in the conquered-territory roster, and finally in the Gadite settlement-zone east of the Jordan.

A City of Og's Kingdom

The first naming places Salcah inside the catalogue of cities Israel took from Og king of Bashan. "All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan" (Deu 3:10). Salecah and Edrei together mark the far reach of Og's holdings, and the whole list — plain, Gilead, Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei — is set under the kingdom-of-Og heading.

The Reach of Og's Rule

Joshua's roster of the eastside kings reuses Salcah as the outer-boundary term for Og's territory. "And ruled in mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and [as far as] half of Gilead which is the territory of Sihon king of Heshbon" (Jos 12:5). Hermon, Salcah, and all Bashan are stacked together as the named extent of Og's rule.

The same geographic shape returns in the allotment-summary a chapter later. "And Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah" (Jos 13:11). Salcah is again the eastern terminus — "all Bashan to Salecah" — the marker that the Bashan-allotment runs out to that city's edge.

The Land of the Gadites

The fourth and final naming sets Salcah inside the Gadite dwelling-zone. "And the sons of Gad dwelt across from them, in the land of Bashan to Salecah" (1Ch 5:11). The same to-Salcah formula reappears, but now the Gadite tribe rather than Og's kingdom is the bearer — Salcah marks the Bashan-edge of the Gadite settlement east of the Jordan.