Tel-melah

Tel-melah (meaning "mound of salt" or "salt hill") was a Babylonian settlement from which Jewish exiles returned to Judah who could not verify their Israelite lineage (Ezra 2:59; Neh. 7:61). It is listed alongside Tel-haresha and Cherub. The "salt mound" designation may indicate a location near the salt flats or saline marshlands of Babylonia. Like the other unverifiable returnees, these families were permitted to join the restoration community despite their uncertain pedigree, pending priestly inquiry through the Urim and Thummim (Ezra 2:63).