Salt

From: Concise Bible Dictionary: S By: George A. Morrish

• 2 min. read • grade level: 9

Salt from the Dead Sea

This well-known and valuable condiment is found in abundance near the Dead Sea. In scripture salt is used as symbolical of moral savor and thus of a preservative. Every oblation of the meat offering was to be seasoned with salt (Lev. 2:13¹³And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. (Leviticus 2:13)). The heave offerings given to the priest are called “a covenant of salt” (Num. 18:19¹⁹All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. (Numbers 18:19)).

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Salt by the Dead Sea

Christians are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, it is of no use whatever1 (Matt. 5:13¹³Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13); Mark 9:50⁵⁰Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. (Mark 9:50); Luke 14:34-35³⁴Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? ³⁵It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 14:34‑35)). It is typical of freshness and savor in a Christian, his heart being maintained in the sense of grace, the loss of which nothing else can supply.

The Christian’s speech should be with grace, seasoned with salt (Col. 4:6⁶Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:6)), not characterized by asperity, nor lacking unction, and yet morally wholesome in its character. “Everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt” (Mark 9:49⁴⁹For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. (Mark 9:49)). God puts all to the proof, but with the saint it is the dross that is consumed. Every sacrifice being salted with salt refers to the preservation of that which is set apart for God from corruption and impurity.

To “eat the salt” of their masters, is used by the Persians and Hindoos to imply that they are fed by their employers. This idea is found in Ezra 4:14¹⁴Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore have we sent and certified the king; (Ezra 4:14), where the opposers of the Jews say, “We eat the salt of the palace,” as the passage is more literally translated: see margin. With reference to an infant being “salted” (Ezek. 16:4⁴And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. (Ezekiel 16:4)), Galen records that this was done to render the skin tighter and firmer.

1. Salt in the East is not pure chloride of sodium, but mostly mixed with vegetable and earthy substances, and has been found at times, after being exposed to the sun and rain, to be quite tasteless, and perfectly useless.

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