By Elizabeth Prata
In 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter wrote that there are some things Paul wrote that are hard to understand. The unstable distort those things. Perhaps the Holy Spirit did that on purpose so that it would weed out who truly sought understanding and who likes to find a chink and crowbar it further apart in order to insert their own wrong interpretation (so as to lead followers astray). This is my speculation. After all, He sends false teachers in order to test us (2 John 9-11, Deuteronomy 13:3, etc.).
But the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of God’s word through the minds and personalities of the Bible writers is remarkable for so many reasons, but for my purposes today, for its honesty.
There are hard things to understand in the Bible. The following phrase is one of them: “covenant of salt”. It is mentioned a few times in the Old Testament.
GotQuestions has some ideas, also giving a historical context as to the importance of salt. Phrases we use even today harken back to the days when salt was a precious commodity. For example, GotQuestions wrote-
There is more to salt than meets the taste buds. Salt has been used in many cultures as a valuable commodity. The word salary comes from an ancient word meaning “salt-money,” referring to a Roman soldier’s allowance for the purchase of salt. Someone who earns his pay is still said to be “worth his salt.”
Salt was used in that culture as part of a legally binding contract. That notion was carried forward into the Old Testament Law. King Abijah mentioned it in 2 Chronicles 13:5,
Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?
The Israelites were commanded to use salt as part of the grain offering and reminded not to forget that part of the offering, ever-
Every grain offering of yours, moreover, you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God will not be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. (Leviticus 2:13).
Matthew Henry on Leviticus 2:13, “Salt is required in all their offerings, v. 13. The altar was the table of the Lord; and therefore, salt being always set on our tables, God would have it always used at his. It is called the salt of the covenant, because, as men confirmed their covenants with each other by eating and drinking together, at all which collations salt was used, so God, by accepting his people’s gifts and feasting them upon his sacrifices, supping with them and they with him (Rev. 3:20), did confirm his covenant with them.”
Among the ancients salt was a symbol of friendship. The salt for the sacrifice was not brought by the offerers, but was provided at the public charge, as the wood was, Ezra 7:20–22. And there was a chamber in the court of the temple called the chamber of salt, in which they laid it up. Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? God would hereby intimate to them that their sacrifices in themselves were unsavoury.
The saints, who are living sacrifices to God, must have salt in themselves, for every sacrifice must be salted with salt (Mk. 9:49, 50), and our speech must be always with grace (Col. 4:6), so must all our religious performances be seasoned with that salt. Christianity is the salt of the earth.
Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 153). Hendrickson.
Again the salt covenant is mentioned in Numbers-
Numbers 18:19, “All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent allotment. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD to you and your descendants with you.“
JFB commentary on Numbers 18:19, “it is a covenant of salt—that is, a perpetual ordinance. This figurative form of expression was evidently founded on the conservative property of salt, which keeps meat from corruption; and hence it became an emblem of inviolability and permanence. It is a common phrase among Oriental people, who consider the eating of salt a pledge of fidelity, binding them in a covenant of friendship. Hence the partaking of the altar meats, which were appropriated to the priests on condition of their services and of which salt formed a necessary accompaniment, was naturally called “a covenant of salt” (Lev 2:13).
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, pp. 108–109). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Here are a few resources on the fascinating topic of salt in the Bible!
TableTalk: Salt
There is a book of the history of salt by Mark Kurlansky. I thought was pretty interesting: Salt: A World History.
Finally, Mark 9:50 says,
“Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
the-end-time.org 