Salt

Essential For Life

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.—Colossians 4:6

Few today consider salt precious because it is one of the cheapest commodities sold in the stores. But long ago in some places it was so valuable it was traded for gold. The early Chinese used coins of salt and some Mediterranean people used cakes of salt as currency. Many ancient caravan trade routes were used to transport salt. The word salary comes from sal, the Latin word for salt; so if we say a person is “worth his salt,” it means he’s worth what we’re paying him.

Salt is one of the oldest, most ubiquitous food seasonings. As Job observed: “Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6:6).

For thousands of years salt has been used to preserve food, especially meat. It does this primarily by dehydrating it, depriving the destroying bacteria of the water needed to survive.

If we were to enumerate our blessings, we might not include salt on the list. But it was considered valuable by Muhammad who is reported to have said: “God sent down four blessings from the sky: fire, water, iron, and salt.” Salt is a part of a great many religious rituals, including those of the ancient Hebrews.

The first mention of salt (ignoring the phrase “salt sea”) in the Bible concerns the death of Lot’s wife. After Lot, his wife, and his two daughters fled Sodom on the morning of its destruction, we are told: “His wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26). Some may think God performed some kind of miracle turning the wife into a standing, vertical pillar much like petrified wood. But the real miracle was that the destruction of Sodom did not happen until the Lord brought Lot and his family out from it. The Bible does not say that when the wife died she became a vertical pillar. Undoubtedly she stumbled, fell, became unconscious and was covered with salt deposits indigenous to the area. She became a fallen, horizontal “pillar.”

Salt was used by the prophet Elisha when he performed a miracle: “The men of the city said to Elisha, Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive. Bring me a new bowl, he said, and put salt in it. So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, This is what the Lord says: I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive. And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.” (2 Kings 2:19-22, NIV)

Of course the salt did not heal the water. The miracle was done by God at the hand of Elisha. The prophet could just as easily have struck the waters or spoken to them if that had been God’s instruction to him. Although salt water is considered unfit for human consumption unless the salt is removed, in this miracle the unfit waters were sweetened by adding salt—the opposite of expectations.

One interpretation of this miracle is that when the kingdom begins, the added ingredient will be the teaching influence of the church as kings, priests, and instructors. Those who are called the “salt of the earth” will then bless, nurture, and restore mankind, and cause the blessings of life and truth to indeed refresh and enliven the dead world. The “new cruse” of salt shows this church class to be a fresh, “newly” developed class which will provide mankind the sweet waters of life.{FOOTNOTE: “Elisha’s Typical Experiences,” Beauties of the Truth, November 1998.}

Covenant of Salt

Salt was offered with animal sacrifices: “When thou hast made an end of cleansing it [the altar], thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord” (Ezekiel 43:23,24). Salt was included with the sacrificial grain offerings: “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings” (Leviticus 2:13, NIV). Both of these imply a covenant relationship.

There are two other references to a “salt covenant” in Scripture: “All 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). “Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?” (2 Chronicles 13:5).

A covenant of salt meant an agreement between two parties had been ratified by eating “salt” together and it was considered inviolate. It was, in effect, an everlasting covenant.

The idea that salt represented fidelity and loyalty is contained in a text in Ezra, but it is hidden in most translations: “Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour, therefore have we [done certain things]” (Ezra 4:14). The phrase “have maintenance” is Strong’s #4415 and means “eat salt.” The Hebrew word is found only here, in a letter being sent to a distant king. The writers acknowledged that their “salary” came from the king, and hence they are writing this letter because of their allegiance to him.

Salted With Fire

On one occasion Jesus used the word salt as a verb: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:43-49, NIV)

This sounds as though hell consists of unquenchable fire and never-dying worms. And yet, if the way to avoid such a terrible fate were to amputate a hand or a foot, one would expect to see countless examples of this in Scripture. But no disciple ever did such a thing, and Jesus was speaking to his disciples, not his enemies or the world in general.

A few verses before this he rebuked the twelve because of their strong desire to be preeminent. John told Jesus that they tried to stop a man who was casting out demons because he was not “one of us” (Mark 9:38). This feeling of superiority, pride, and ambition could, if persisted in, keep them from entering the kingdom—from “entering life” as expressed in this text. In fact persistence in doing the wrong things could cause them to die the second death, pictured by gehenna, the Greek word translated “hell.”

Clearly Jesus was not talking about an offensive hand or foot because hands and feet do not cause anyone to sin. It is not our hand, foot, or eye that we need to watch, it is our heart: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for [out] of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).

It might be possible to simulate allegiance to the Master for a time, but eventually every disciple will be sorely tested, will be “salted with fire.” Although this expression appears only in Mark, both Paul and Peter used fire as a metaphor for determining what was precious and what was not. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:13). “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (1 Peter 4:12).

Another view is that when Jesus said “every sacrifice” in Mark 9:49, he is referring to every acceptable sacrifice in the spirit of Romans 12:1, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Thus the Master’s words might be paraphrased: “Every disciple of mine shall have a fiery trial to undergo, and every one who would be found an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God, must have such a salting, like the Levitical sacrifices.” (A Commentary, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, vol. 3, p. 177.)

Surely Judas was an example of someone whose “hand” was corrupting him. What should he do about it? He should cut it off! He should take swift action to distance himself from all feelings of disloyalty. He had “broken bread” with the Master; he had entered a “covenant of salt” and was expected to remain faithful to it.

“Salt is good but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other”(Mark 9:50, NIV). “Salt” in this context is an antiseptic, a preservative. Certainly the disciples needed something to counteract the corruption that was entering their ranks. Far from being at peace with each other, they were jostling to see who would be the greatest, who would sit on the Master’s right hand and who on his left. It was John—and he probably voiced the thoughts that were in the minds of others—who was concerned that anyone not associated with their group should do anything good in the name of Jesus. Rather than being examples of true Christians, they were behaving like the scribes and Pharisees.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. … Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16, NIV) Today salt does not lose its saltiness, but it could happen in ancient times. Salt deposits were often mixed with other elements and when exposed to the wind and rain, the salt could leach out leaving behind worthless things of the earth. In this text Jesus compares his disciples with salt. Are they having a positive effect on those with whom they come in contact? Are they retarding the corruption and putrefaction of the world around them? If they are not, they are like salt that has lost its saltiness.

Lessons for Us

We have so much to be thankful for. We have been called out of a state of darkness into a state of light: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Those who follow the Master must be single-minded in their dedication to this great commission: “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Have you forsaken all that you have, or are you still clinging to something or someone in the world that means a lot to you? Is there something other than the Lord that is as dear to you as a “right arm”? If there is, cut it off. Otherwise you cannot be his disciple. You will be like salt that has lost its seasoning power.

This is the time of refining experiences for those antitypical “sons of Levi” who are to be as valuable to the Lord as gold and silver is to most people: “Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2,3).

We live on the equivalent of a tiny, insignificant grain of sand in this vast universe, and our life is short. Would some temporary gain lasting at most for a few years be worth jeopardizing our reward in heaven? Surely not!

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). This is the great paradox of the Bible. Lose our life in the service of the Lord, the truth, and the brethren, and we will find it. The fact that the world takes little note of us, thinks we are misguided and misinformed, means nothing. The world has always had that opinion about those who are the Lord’s: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matthew 5:11,12)

A race course has been used to describe the need to keep “running” until we reach the “finish line,” the attainment of our reward in heaven (1 Corinthians 9:24). But walking together with brethren in the narrow way that leads to life (Matthew 7:14) is not a race because a race has only one winner. Of course we want to attain the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus, but we should be equally dedicated to helping our brethren attain that prize as well. Let us not fall into the trap of seeking advantage over someone else. Let us not criticize anyone who is doing a great work for the Lord who is not “of us.”

We have made our calling sure; let us make our election sure as well (2 Peter 1:10). And may we help those with whom we come in contact by watching what we say. Salt makes food wholesome and palatable; may grace season our speech so it contributes to the encouragement of our brethren.