Salt (Bible)

Occurrences in the Bible

• Sacrifice and covenant: Leviticus 2:13 commands that every meat offering be seasoned with salt and calls it "the salt of the covenant of thy God." In Ezekiel 43:24, salt is also cast upon the burnt offerings. Numbers 18:19 states that the portion of the priests was given as "a covenant of salt for ever." 2 Chronicles 13:5 says that God gave the kingdom to the house of David "by a covenant of salt."
• Judgment and desolation: In Genesis 19:26, the wife of Lot looks back and becomes "a pillar of salt." In Judges 9:45, Abimelech tears down the city of Shechem and sows the site with salt. Deuteronomy 29:23 compares a desolated land to "brimstone, and salt."
• Daily life and purification: Elisha heals the bad water of Jericho by putting salt into it (2 Kings 2:19-22). Job 6:6 speaks of the blandness of food without salt: "Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt?" Ezekiel 16:4 refers to the custom of rubbing newborn infants with salt. In Ezra 4:14, the phrase rendered in the KJV as "we have maintenance from the king's palace" (literally, "we eat the salt of the palace") means receiving wages from the king.
• New Testament: In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls his disciples "the salt of the earth" and says that salt which has lost its savor is cast out. A similar saying appears in Luke 14:34-35. Mark 9:49-50 says, "every one shall be salted with fire," and "Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." Colossians 4:6 urges believers to let their speech be "seasoned with salt."

Background

Ancient Israel is known to have obtained salt from the area around the Dead Sea (the biblical "salt sea," Genesis 14:3). Salt was used to season food and to preserve meat. In the ancient Near East, eating salt together is said to have been regarded as a sign of friendship and of a binding agreement. Sowing conquered land with salt is understood as an act of cursing that land so that it could never be used again.

Significance Across Scripture

The Old Testament "covenant of salt" is commonly interpreted as a covenant that, like salt that does not decay, remains unchanging and enduring. The regulation requiring offerings to be salted is likewise connected to this covenant. The New Testament applies this image to people: those who belong to God serve to give flavor and to preserve within the world, and if they lose that character, they are of no use.

Interpretations and Issues

• The meaning of "the salt of the earth": Sermons commonly explain the phrase in terms of three functions: preventing corruption, giving flavor, and purifying. The text itself, however, does not list these functions. Some read the verse with an emphasis on personal holy living, while others read it in terms of Christians' responsibility and engagement in society.
• "Salt that has lost its savor": Pure salt does not lose its saltiness. The phrase is therefore commonly explained as referring to impure Dead Sea salt from which the salt content has leached out. This is a scholarly conjecture.
• Mark 9:49: This is a difficult verse, and interpretations differ, including refinement through suffering, a life offered up as a sacrifice, and the final judgment. Some manuscripts add the clause "and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt."
• Later traditions: The story that a particular rock near the Dead Sea is Lot's wife is a later tradition and does not appear in the Bible. The story that Roman soldiers were paid their wages in salt is likewise unrelated to the Bible, and its historical accuracy is uncertain.

In the Korean Church

"Salt and light," from Matthew 5:13-14, is an extremely widespread expression in the Korean church. It appears frequently in sermons, church mottos, and Christian education to describe the life of Christians in society. In preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, it is often treated right after the Beatitudes.