Salt

Used to season food (Job 6:6), and mixed with the fodder of cattle (Isa. 30:24, “clean;” in marg. of R.V. “salted”). All meat-offerings were seasoned with salt (Lev. 2:13). To eat salt with one is to partake of his hospitality, to derive subsistence from him; and hence he who did so was bound to look after his host’s interests (Ezra 4:14, “We have maintenance from the king’s palace;” A.V. marg., “We are salted with the salt of the palace;” R.V., “We eat the salt of the palace”).

A “covenant of salt” (Num. 18:19; 2 Chr. 13:5) was a covenant of perpetual obligation. New-born children were rubbed with salt (Ezek. 16:4). Disciples are likened unto salt, with reference to its cleansing and preserving uses (Matt. 5:13). When Abimelech took the city of Shechem, he sowed the place with salt, that it might always remain a barren soil (Judg. 9:45). Sir Lyon Playfair argues, on scientific grounds, that under the generic name of “salt,” in certain passages, we are to understand petroleum or its residue asphalt. Thus in Gen. 19:26 he would read “pillar of asphalt;” and in Matt. 5:13, instead of “salt,” “petroleum,” which loses its essence by exposure, as salt does not, and becomes asphalt, with which pavements were made.

The Jebel Usdum, to the south of the Dead Sea, is a mountain of rock salt about 7 miles long and from 2 to 3 miles wide and some hundreds of feet high.

solt (melach; halas, hals): Common salt is considered by most authorities as an essential ingredient of our food. Most people intentionally season their cooking with more or less salt for the sake of palatability. Others depend upon the small quantities which naturally exist in water and many foods to furnish the necessary amount of salt for the body. Either too much salt or the lack of it creates undesirable disturbance in the animal system. Men and animals alike instinctively seek for this substance to supplement or improve their regular diet. The ancients appreciated the value of salt for seasoning food (Job 6:6). So necessary was it that they dignified it by making it a requisite part of sacrifices (Le 2:13; Ezr 6:9; 7:22; Eze 43:24; Mr 9:49). In Nu 18:19; 2Ch 13:5, a "covenant of salt" is mentioned (compare Mr 9:49). This custom of pledging friendship or confirming a compact by eating food containing salt is still retained among Arabic-speaking people. The Arabic word for "salt" and for a "compact" or "treaty" is the same. Doughty in his travels in Arabia appealed more than once to the superstitious belief of the Arabs in the "salt covenant," to save his life. Once an Arab has received in his tent even his worst enemy and has eaten salt (food) with him, he is bound to protect his guest as long as he remains.

See COVENANT OF SALT.

The chief source of salt in Palestine is from the extensive deposits near the "sea of salt" (see DEAD SEA), where there are literally mountains and valleys of salt (2Sa 8:13; 2Ki 14:7; 1Ch 18:12; 2Ch 25:11). On the seacoast the inhabitants frequently gather the sea salt. They fill the rock crevices with sea water and leave it for the hot summer sun to evaporate. After evaporation the salt crystals can be collected. As salt-gathering is a government monopoly in Turkey, the government sends men to pollute the salt which is being surreptitiously crystallized, so as to make it unfit for eating. Another extensive supply comes from the salt lakes in the Syrian desert East of Damascus and toward Palmyra. All native salt is more or less bitter, due to the presence of other salts such as magnesium sulphate.

Salt was used not only as a food, but as an antiseptic in medicine. Newborn babes were bathed and salted (Eze 16:4), a custom still prevailing. The Arabs of the desert consider it so necessary, that in the absence of salt they batheir infants in camels' urine. Elisha is said to have healed the waters of Jericho by casting a cruse of salt into the spring (2Ki 2:20 f). Abimelech sowed the ruins of Shechem with salt to prevent a new city from arising in its place (Jud 9:45). Lot's wife turned to a pillar of salt (Ge 19:26).

Figurative:

Salt is emblematic of loyalty and friendship (see above). A person who has once joined in a "salt covenant" with God and then breaks it is fit only to be cast out (compare Mt 5:13; Mr 9:50). Saltness typified barrenness (De 29:23; Jer 17:6). James compares the absurdity of the same mouth giving forth blessings and cursings to the impossibility of a fountain yielding both sweet and salt water (Jas 3:11 f).

James A. Patch

• → Lot' s wife turned into a pillar of Ge 19:26
• → The city of Salt Jos 15:62
• → The valley of salt 2Sa 8:13; 2Ki 14:7
• → Salt Sea Ge 14:3; Nu 34:12; De 3:17; Jos 3:16; 12:3; 15:2
• → Salt pits Zep 2:9
• → All animal sacrifices were required to be seasoned with Le 2:13; Ezr 6:9; Eze 43:24; Mr 9:49
• → Used in ratifying covenants Nu 18:19; 2Ch 13:5
• → Elisha throws, into the pool of Jericho, to purify it 2Ki 2:20,21
• → FIGURATIVE
  • Of the saving efficacy of the ekklesia of Christ Mt 5:13; Mr 9:49,50; Lu 14:34
  • Of wise behavior Col 4:6

• Characterised as good and useful Mr 9:50
• Used For
  • Seasoning food Job 6:6
  • Seasoning sacrifices Le 2:13; Eze 43:24
  • Ratifying covenants Nu 18:19; 2Ch 13:5
  • Strengthening new-born infants Eze 16:4
• Partaking of another's a bond of friendship Ezr 4:14
• Lost its savour when exposed to the air Mt 5:13; Mr 9:50
• OFTEN FOUND
  • In pits Jos 11:8; Zep 2:9
  • In springs Jas 3:12
  • Near the Dead Sea Nu 34:12; De 3:17
• Places where it abounded barren and unfruitful Jer 17:6; Eze 47:11
• The valley of, celebrated for victories 2Sa 8:13; 2Ki 14:7; 1Ch 18:12
• MIRACLES CONNECTED WITH
  • Lot's wife turned into a pillar of Ge 19:26
  • Elisha healed the bad water with 2Ki 2:21
• Places sown with, to denote perpetual desolation Jud 9:45
• Liberally afforded to the Jews after the captivity Ezr 6:9; 7:22
• ILLUSTRATIVE
  • Of saints Mt 5:13
  • Of grace in the heart Mr 9:50
  • Of wisdom in speech Col 4:6
  • (Without savour,) of graceless professors Mt 5:13; Mr 9:50
  • (Pits of,) of desolation Zep 2:9
  • (Salted with fire,) of preparation of the wicked for destruction Mr 9:49