Salt

VIEW:17 DATA:01-04-2020
SALT,—Salt is rightly included by ben-Sira among ‘the chief of all things necessary for the life of man’ (Sir_39:26 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). The Hebrews of the Southern Kingdom, at least, had access to inexhaustible stores of salt both in the waters of the Dead Sea,—hence named in OT ‘the Salt Sea’ (Deu_3:17 etc.)—whence it could easily be obtained by evaporation, and in the deposits of the Jebel Usdum at its south-western extremity. References to saltpits or saltpans, or to both, are found in Zep_2:9, 1Ma_11:25. One hundred pounds of water from the Dead Sea are said to yield 241/2 lbs. of salt, compared with 6 lbs. obtained from the same quantity of water from the Atlantic.
In addition to its daily use as a condiment in the preparation of food (cf. Job_6:6), and its important place in the sacrificial ritual, salt was employed by the Hebrews in an even greater variety of ways than it is among ourselves. New-born infants, for example, were rubbed with salt (Eze_16:4)—a practice in which a religious, rather than a hygienic, motive may be detected. A grain of salt placed in the hollow of a decayed tooth was considered a cure for the universal evil of toothache (Mishna, Shabbath, vi. 5). In other treatises of the Mishna we find frequent references to the use of salt for salting fish, for pickling olives, vegetables, etc. The salting of meat for preservation is referred to in the ‘Epistle of Jeremy’ (Bar_6:28). The modern Jewish custom of laying all meat in salt for the purpose of more thoroughly draining it of the blood was doubtless observed in Bible times. In Palestine, under the Seleucids, salt formed a government monopoly (1Ma_10:29; 1Ma_11:35), as it did in Egypt under the Ptolemys.
As regards the presence of salt in the ritual of sacrifice, the words of Mar_9:40 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , every sacrifice shall be salted with salt,’ although omitted by RV [Note: Revised Version.] following the best authorities, are nevertheless true to fact. The legislation of the Priests’ Code, at least, expressly ordains: ‘with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt’ (Lev_2:13)—a passage which expressly specifies that the cereal or vegetable offerings (the ‘meal offerings’ of RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) had to be salted as well as the more important and more evident animal or flesh sacrifices (cf. Eze_43:24). A special ‘salt chamber’ is mentioned among the chambers adjoining the Priests’ Court in the description of Herod’s Temple given in the Mishna. The sacred incense, also, had to be ‘seasoned with salt’ (Exo_30:35 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), as was also the case with the shewbread, according to the better Gr. text of Lev_24:7. The original idea in this extended ritual use of salt was doubtless this—that just as salt was an indispensable accompaniment of man’s dally food, so it could not be absent from the ‘food of God,’ as the sacrifices are termed in Lev_21:6; Lev_21:17.
In the developed priestly legislation, however, there can be little doubt that the presence of salt had a symbolical significance. From its use as a preservative, reflected in our Lord’s figure, ‘Ye are the salt of the earth’ (Mat_5:13), and as an antidote to decay, it is natural that salt should become a symbol of permanence, and even of life as opposed to decay and death. ‘Salt,’ it has been said, ‘seems to stand for life in many a form of primitive speech and in the world’s symbolism’ (Trumbull, Covenant of Salt). From this symbolical standpoint we probably reach the true explanation of the striking expression ‘a convenant of salt’ (Num_18:19, 2Ch_13:5), which denotes a covenant that is inviolable and valid in perpetuity. The presence of salt, therefore, with every sacrifice may have come to symbolize the irrevocable character of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’s covenant with Israel (cf. G. B. Gray’s Com. on Num_18:19).
This seems preferable to the usual explanation which connects the expression in question with the well-known code of Arab [Note: Arabic.] hospitality, by which a traveller in the desert, and even an enemy, if he has once partaken of an Arab’s hospitality, has a right to his host’s protection; since this ‘ordinance of salt’ as it is termed, is valid only for a limited period (see Jaussen. Coutumes des Arabes [1908], 87 f.). On the other hand, the obligations which the partaking of one’s hospitality imposes on a guest are emphasized in the words of Ezr_4:14 ‘because we eat the salt of the palace’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ).
In marked contrast to the above-mentioned employment of salt as a symbol of life, stands its parallel occurrence as a symbol of barrenness, desolation, or death (Deu_29:23 and elsewhere). By this aspect of the symbolism of salt it has been usual to explain the treatment meted out by Abimelech to the city of Shechem in the early narrative, Jdg_9:45 : ‘He beat down the city and sowed it with salt.’ It is more in harmony, however, with the fundamental conception of the han (see Ban) to regard the strewing of the site of the city with salt as symbolizing its complete dedication to J″ [Note: Jahweh.] (see the parallels adduced in EBi [Note: Encyclopædia Biblica.] iv. col. 4249 f.).
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


An appetizing seasoning of food to man and beast. In the East the vegetable food especially needs salt (Job_6:6; Isa_30:24, margin). An antidote to the effects of heat on animal food. A necessary accompaniment of the various altar offerings, bloody and unbloody (Lev_2:13, "the salt of the covenant of thy God"; Eze_43:24; Mar_9:49-50). It signifies the imperishableness of Jehovah's love for His people; as an antiseptic salt implies durability, fidelity, purity. The opposite of leaven, the symbol of corruption. Covenants were cemented by feasts and hospitality, the viands of which were seasoned, as all foods, with salt. Hence, "a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord" is an indissoluble covenant (Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5; Ezr_4:14, margin). An Arab who just before would have robbed and murdered you, once you taste his salt, would die to save you; "faithless to salt" is the Persian term for a traitor.
So Jesus, cf6 "have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another" (Mar_9:50); as no sacrifice to God, and no food to man, is acceptable without salt, so prayers offered without "peace" of heart toward fellow men are savourless; a warning to the disciples who had just been disputing with one another, and judging, fellow men who used Jesus' name though not following the disciples (Mar_9:33-50). Being "salted with the salt of the (heavenly King's) palace," and bound to fidelity to Him, and brought into a covenant of salt with Him, they are called on to have a loving, imperishable savour toward one another and to all men. Col_4:6, "let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt," i.e. the savour of fresh spiritual wisdom excluding all "corrupt communication," and tasteless unprofitableness or insipidity (Mat_5:13; Eph_4:29).
Near Colosse was a salt lake, hence the image. The idea in Mar_9:49, cf6 "for every one shall be salted with fire, ,is: the reason why it is better for us to cut off offending members is that the work of every one, believer and unbeliever, shall be tried with fire; to believers "the Refiner's fire" (Mal_3:3; Mat_3:11), symbolizing God's searching purity; a consuming fire (Heb_12:29) to His foes, who nevertheless shall be imperishable in their doom (salt symbolizing preservation from decay), but purging out only the dross from His people (1Co_3:13; 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_4:12). The righteous can withstand the fire, for it is part of their present salting as "a living sacrifice" (Isa_33:14-15; Rom_12:1). Every offending member and offense must be removed, to enable us to withstand that testing fire and be found without dross unto glory and honour.
The southern shore of the Salt Sea supplied, salt abundantly; compare "the valley of salt" (2Sa_8:13) near the mountain of fossil salt, five miles long, the chief source of the salt in the sea. The salt pits (a source of revenue; Josephus Ant. 13:4, section 9) were at the S. of the Dead Sea; the marshes here are coated with salt deposited periodically by the spring rising of the waters which in summer evaporate; and here were the pillars of salt traditionally represented as Lot's wife (Josephus Ant. 1:11, section 4; Apocr. Wis_10:7). Inferior salt was used for manure (Mat_5:13; Luk_14:35). Too much salt produced barrenness (Deu_29:23; Zep_2:9). "Sowing with salt" doomed symbolically to barrenness a destroyed city and depopulated region (Jdg_9:45; Psa_107:34 margin). Salt as expressing purity was the outward sign Elisha used in healing the waters (2Ki_2:20-21). The Israelites used to rub infants with salt to make the skin dense and firm, and for purification and dedication of them to God (Eze_16:4).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Salt. Indispensable as salt is to ourselves, it was even more so to the Hebrews, being to them, not only an appetizing condiment in the food, both of man, Job_11:6 and beast, Isa_30:24, see margin, and a valuable antidote to the effects of the heat of the climate on animal food, but also, entering largely into the religious services of the Jews as an accompaniment to the various offerings presented on the altar. Lev_2:13. They possessed an inexhaustible and ready supply of it on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. See Sea, The Salt.
There is one mountain here called Jebel Usdum, seven miles long and several hundred feet high, which is composed almost entirely of salt. The Jews appear to have distinguished between rock-salt, and that which was gained by evaporation, as the Talmudists particularize one species, (probably the latter), as the "salt of Sodom." The salt-pits formed an important source of revenue to the rulers of the country, and Antiochus conferred a valuable boon on Jerusalem by presenting the city with 375 bushels of salt for the Temple service.
As one of the most essential articles of diet, salt symbolized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity and purity. Hence, the expression "covenant of salt," Lev_2:13; Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5, as betokening an indissoluble alliance between friends; and again the expression "salted with the salt of the palace." Ezr_4:14, not necessarily meaning that they had "maintenance from the palace," as Authorized Version has it, but that they were bound by sacred obligations fidelity to the king. So in the present day, "to eat bread and salt together" is an expression for a league of mutual amity. It was, probably, with a view to keep this idea prominently before the minds of the Jews, that the use of salt was enjoined on the Israelites in their offerings to God.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


God appointed that salt should be used in all the sacrifices that were offered to him, Lev_2:13. Salt is esteemed the symbol of wisdom and grace, Col_4:6; Mar_9:50 : also of perpetuity and incorruption, Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5. The orientals were accustomed also to ratify their federal engagements by salt. This substance was, among the ancients, the emblem of friendship and fidelity, and therefore used in all their sacrifices and covenants. It was a sacred pledge of hospitality which they never ventured to violate. Numerous instances occur of travellers in Arabia, after being plundered and stripped by the wandering tribes of the desert, claiming the protection of some civilized Arab, who, after receiving them into his tent, and giving them salt, instantly relieves their distress, and never forsakes them till he has placed them in safety. An agreement, thus ratified, is called, in Scripture, “a covenant of salt.” The obligation which this symbol imposes on the mind of an oriental, is well illustrated by the Baron du Tott in the following anecdote: One who was desirous of his acquaintance promised in a short time to return. The baron had already attended him half way down the stair case, when stopping, and turning briskly to one of his domestics, “Bring me directly,” said he, “some bread and salt.” What he requested was brought; when, taking a little salt between his fingers, and putting it with a mysterious air on a bit of breast, he ate it with a devout gravity, assuring du Tott he might now rely on him.
Although salt, in small quantities, may contribute to the communicating, and fertilizing of some kinds of stubborn soil, yet, according to the observations of Pliny, “all places in which salt is found are barren and produce nothing.” The effect of salt, where it abounds, on vegetation, is described by burning, in Deu_29:23, “The whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt of burning.” Thus Volney, speaking of the borders of the Asphaltic lake, or Dead Sea, says, “The true cause of the absence of vegetables and animals is the acrid saltness of its waters, which is infinitely greater than that of the sea. The land surrounding the lake, being equally impregnated with that saltness, refuses to produce plants; the air itself, which is by evaporation loaded with it, and which moreover receives vapours of sulphur and bitumen, cannot suit vegetation; whence that dead appearance which reigns around the lake.” So a salt land, Jer_17:6, is the same as the “parched places of the wilderness,” and is descriptive of barrenness, as saltness also is, Job_39:6; Psa_107:34; Eze_47:11; Zec_2:9. Hence the ancient custom of sowing an enemy's city, when taken, with salt, in token of perpetual desolation, Judges 4:45; and thus in after times the city of Milan was burned, razed, sown with salt, and ploughed by the exasperated emperor, Frederic Barbarossa. The salt used by the ancients was what we call rock or fossil salt; and also that left by the evaporation of salt lakes. Both these kinds were impure, being mixed with earth, sand, &c, and lost their strength by deliquescence. Maundrell, describing the valley of salt, says, “On the side toward Gibul there is a small precipice, occasioned by the continual taking away of the salt; and in this you may see how the veins of it lie. I broke a piece of it, of which that part that was exposed to the sun, rain, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savour; the inner part, which was connected with the rock, retained its savour, as I found by proof.” Christ reminds his disciples, Mat_5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” This is spoken of the mineral salt as mentioned by Maundrell, a great deal of which was made use of in offerings at the temple; such of it as had become insipid was thrown out to repair the road. The existence of such a salt, and its application to such a use, Schoetgenius has largely proved in his “Horae Hebraicae.” The salt unfit for the land, Luke 16:34, Le Clerc conjectures to be that made of wood ashes, which easily loses its savour, and becomes no longer serviceable.
Effoetos cinerem immundum jactare per agros.
VIRGIL. Georg. v. 81.
“But blush not fattening dung to cast around, Or sordid ashes o'er th' exhausted ground. WARTON.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


Apart from its obvious use in cooking, salt was widely used in the ancient world to keep perishable foods from decay (Lev_2:13; Job_6:6). Because of salt’s uses and characteristics, the Bible refers to it to illustrate aspects of the lives of Christians. Just as salt gives food a good taste, so the gracious qualities of their new life in Christ should make the speech of Christians wholesome and pleasant (Col_4:6). If they are living as they should, Christians will be a good influence in a world corrupted by sin (Mat_5:13; Mar_9:50).
Because of its use in flavouring and preserving, salt symbolized a close and permanent relationship between people. It had a ceremonial use in making covenants, where it symbolized the unbroken loyalty that the two parties promised to the covenant (Lev_2:13; Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5; see COVENANT).
Sometimes, however, salt symbolized judgment and desolation. This was because salty land was useless for farming and became a barren waste. Therefore, a conqueror may have sprinkled salt over a destroyed city to symbolize that it was to be left in permanent desolation (Deu_29:23; Jdg_9:45; Jer_17:6; Zep_2:9).
The Israelites obtained their salt mainly from the region around the Dead Sea, which was itself so rich in salt that it was sometimes called the Salt Sea (Gen_14:3; Jos_3:16; Jos_15:5; Jos_18:19). Somewhere to the south-west of the Dead Sea, in the dry region of Israel known as the Negeb, was a place called the Valley of Salt (2Sa_8:13; 2Ki_14:7). (For further details of the Dead Sea and the Negeb see PALESTINE.)
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.


sôlt (מלח, melaḥ; ἄλας, hálas, ἄλς, háls): 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 (Lev_2:13; Ezr_6:9; Ezr_7:22; Eze_43:24; Mar_9:49). In Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5, a ?covenant of salt? is mentioned (compare Mar_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 (Jdg_9:45). Lot's wife turned to a pillar of salt (Gen_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 Mat_5:13; Mar_9:50). Saltness typified barrenness (Deu_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 (Jam_3:11 f).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Salt was procured by the Hebrews from two sources: first, from rock-salt, obtained from hills of salt which lie about the southern extremity of the Dead Sea; and secondly, from the waters of that sea, which overflowing the banks yearly, and being exhaled by the sun and the heat, left behind a deposit of salt both abundant and good.
From Job_6:6 it is clear that salt was used as a condiment with food. Salt was also mixed with fodder for cattle (Isa_30:24). As offerings, viewed on their earthly side, were a presentation to God of what man found good and pleasant for food, so all meat-offerings were required to be seasoned with salt (Lev_2:13). Salt, therefore, became of great importance to Hebrew worshippers; it was sold accordingly in the temple market, and a large quantity was kept in the Temple itself, in a chamber appropriated to the purpose. The incense, 'perfume,' was also to have salt as an ingredient (Exo_30:35; marginal reading 'salted'), where it appears to have been symbolical, as well of the divine goodness as of man's gratitude, on the principle that of every bounty vouchsafed of God, it became man to make an acknowledgment in kind.
As salt thus entered into man's food, so, to eat salt with any one, was to partake of his fare, to share his hospitality; and hence, by implication, to enjoy his favor, or to be in his confidence. Hence, also, salt became an emblem of fidelity and of intimate friendship. At the present hour the Arabs regard as their friend him who has eaten salt with them, that is, has partaken of their hospitality. The domestic sanctity which thus attached itself to salt was much enhanced in influence by its religious applications, so that it became symbolical of the most sacred and binding of obligations. Accordingly 'a covenant of salt' was accounted a very solemn bond (Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5; Lev_2:13): a signification to which force would be given by the preservative quality of salt.
But salt, if used too abundantly, is destructive of vegetation and causes a desert. Hence arose another class of figurative applications. Destroyed cities were sown with salt to intimate that they were devoted to perpetual desolation (Jdg_9:45); salt became a symbol of barrenness (Deu_29:23; Zep_2:9); and 'a salt land' (Jer_17:6) signifies a sterile and unproductive district (Job_39:6).
We have reserved to the end reference to a singular usage among the Israelites, namely, washing new-born infants in salt water; which was regarded as so essential that those could have hardly any other than an ill fate who were deprived of the rite (Eze_16:4). The practice obviously arose from a regard to the preserving, the domestic, the moral, and the religious uses to which salt was applied, and of which it became the emblem.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Gen_19:26 (b) This probably represents:
(1) GOD's power to change a blessing to a curse as when one is taken out of this life and sent into the eternal dark.
(2) Salt is a preservative. The memory of the deed of this woman and her act of rebellion were to be preserved for future generations.
(3) Salt is a permanent chemical. The punishment of this woman was to be permanent.

Lev_2:13 (b) Probably this represents the permanence and durability of CHRIST's sacrifice for us in all of its aspects. (See also Eze_43:24).

Num_18:19 (b) The covenant which GOD makes with His people in this verse is characterized by purity, permanence, stability and savour. You will note that the offerings must contain salt as a picture or symbol or type of these characteristics in GOD, and His Word.

Deu_29:23 (b) Here is a symbol of GOD's judgment and curse wherein He prevents the growth of all green things in order to punish the enemy. (See also Jdg_9:45 where Abimelech used it as a curse; see also Eze_47:11; Zep_2:9).

2Ki_2:20 (b) This is no doubt a type of GOD's healing and preserving power.

Eze_16:4 (b) The story in this chapter reveals that there was no period of preparation in the forming of the nation of Israel. GOD called Abraham, he obeyed and began the nation of Israel immediately. The salting of the baby at birth showed that GOD found in Abraham all that he needed for the beginning of a healthy growth for a healthy nation.

Mat_5:13 (a) This is a type of the believer in the following aspects: Salt (table) is always pure white as the Christian is in GOD's sight. Every crystal of salt is a perfect cube. It is perfectly square. Each Christian is considered to be "square" toward GOD, toward his fellowman, toward his family, and toward himself. Salt preserves. The Christian by his godly influence and Christian activities has a salutary and beneficent effect upon those with whom he associates. The presence of Christians in the world preserves the world from the corruption of Satan. When the Christians are removed, the corruption progresses rapidly.

Mar_9:49 (b) Here we see a reference to the preserving power of the eternal fire in Gehenna. Instead of destroying the sinner as it punishes him, it will act as a preservative and keep him alive and conscious of his punishment.

Col_4:6 (a) It is symbolical of the character of good language, wherein the thoughts expressed, the words spoken, and the attitude of heart in the conversation bring a sweet influence and a preserving power in the lives of those to whom we speak.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.


Salt
(מֶלִח, melach; ἃλς), the chloride of sodium of modern chemistry. Indispensable as salt is to ourselves, it was even more so to the Hebrews, being to them not only an appetizing condiment in the food both of man (Job_6:6) and beast (Isa_30:24; see margin), and a most valuable antidote to the effects of the heat of the climate on animal food, but also entering largely into their religious services as an accompaniment to the various offerings presented on the altar (Lev_2:13). They possessed an inexhaustible and ready supply of it on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. In the same manner the Arabs of the present day procure their supply of salt from the deposits of the Dead Sea, and carry on a considerable trade in that article throughout Syria. Here may have been situated the Valley of Salt (2Sa_8:13), in proximity to the mountain of fossil salt which Robinson (Researches, 2, 108) describes as five miles in length, and as the chief source of the salt in the sea itself. SEE SALT, VALLEY OF. Here were the salt pits (Zep_2:9), probably formed in the marshes at the southern end of the lake, which are completely coated with salt, deposited periodically by the rising of the waters; and here also were the successive pillars of salt which tradition has from time to time identified with Lot's wife (Wis_10:7; Josephus, Ant. 1, 11, 4). SEE DEAD SEA.
Salt might also be procured from the Mediterranean Sea, and from this source the Phoenicians would naturally obtain the supply necessary for salting fish (Neh_13:16) and for other purposes. The Jews appear to have distinguished between rock-salt and that which was gained by evaporation, as the Talmudists particularize one species (probably the latter) as the “salt of Sodom” (Carpzov, Appar. p. 718). The notion that this expression means bitumen rests on no foundation. The salt pits formed an important source of revenue to the rulers of the country (Josephus, Ant. 13:4, 9), and Antiochus conferred a valuable boon on Jerusalem by presenting the city with 375 bushels of salt for the Temple service (ibid. 12:3, 3). In addition to the uses of salt already specified, the inferior sorts were applied as a manure to the soil, or to hasten the decomposition of dung (Mat_5:13; Luk_14:35). Too large an admixture, however, was held to produce sterility, as exemplified on the shores of the Dead Sea (Deu_29:23; Zep_2:9); hence a “salt” land was synonymous with barrenness (Job_39:6; see margin; Jer_17:6; comp. Josephus, War, 4:8, 2, ἁλμυρωοης καὶ ἃγονος); and hence also arose the custom of sowing with salt the foundations of a destroyed city (Jdg_9:45), as a token of its irretrievable ruin. It was the belief of the Jews that salt would, by exposure to the air, lose its virtue (μωρανθῇ, Mat_5:13), and become saltless (ἄναλον, Mar_9:50). The same fact is implied in the expressions of Pliny, sal iners (31, 39), sal tabescere (31, 44); and Maundrell (Early Travels [ed. Bohn], p. 512) asserts that he found the surface of a salt rock in this condition (see Hackett, Illustrat. of Script. p. 48 sq.).
The associations connected with salt in Eastern countries are important. As one of the most essential articles of diet, it symbolized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity, and purity. Hence the expression, “covenant of salt” (Lev_2:13; Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5), as betokening an indissoluble alliance between friends (see Gettysb. Evang. Rev. Oct. 1867); and again the expression, “salted with the salt of the palace” (Ezr_4:14), not necessarily meaning that they had “maintenance from the palace,” as the A.V. has it, but that they were bound by sacred obligations of fidelity to the king. So in the present day, “to eat bread and salt together” is an expression for a league of mutual amity (Russell, Aleppo, 1, 232); and, on the other hand, the Persian term for traitor is nemekharam, “faithless to salt” (Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 790). The same force would be given by the preservative quality of salt (Bahrdt, De Federe Salis [Lips. 1761]; Hallervordt, id. [ibid. 1701]; Zeibich, id. [Ger. 1760]; Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 42 sq.). SEE COVENANT. It was possibly with a view to keep this idea prominently before the minds of the Jews that the use of salt was enjoined on the Israelites in their offerings to God; for in the first instance it was specifically ordered for the meat offering (Lev_2:13), which consisted mainly of flour, and therefore was not liable to corruption (see Pontanus, De Sale Sacrific. [Traj. 1703]; Spencer, De Legis Rit. 1, 5, 1). The extension of its use to burned- sacrifices was a later addition (Ezra 43, 24; Josephus, Ant. 3, 9, 1), in the spirit of the general injunction at the close of Leviticus 2, 13. Similarly the heathens accompanied their sacrifices with salted barley meal, the Greeks with their οὐλοχύται (Homer, Il. 1, 449), the Romans with their mola salsa (Horace, Sat. 2, 3, 200) or their salsoe fruges (Virgil, Aen. 2, 133). Salt, therefore, became of great importance to Hebrew worshippers: it was sold accordingly in the Temple market, and a large quantity was kept in the Temple itself, in a chamber appropriated to the purpose (Maii Diss. de Usu Salis Symbol. in Rebus Sacris [Giess. 1692]; Wokenius, De Salitura Oblationum Deo Factar. [Lips. 1747]; Josephus, Ant. 12:3, 3; Middoth, 5, 3; Othon. Lex. Rabb. p. 668). It may, of course, be assumed that in all of these cases salt was added as a condiment; but the strictness with which the rule was adhered to — no sacrifice being offered without salt (Pliny, 31, 41), and still more the probable, though perhaps doubtful, admixture of it in incense (Exo_30:35, where the word rendered “tempered together” is by some understood as “salted” — leads to the conclusion that there was a symbolical force attached to its use (Josephus, Ant. 3, 9, 1; Philo, 2, 255; Hottinger, Jur. Heb. Legg. p. 168); as was certainly the case with the Greeks and Romans (Pliny, Hist. Nat. 31, 44; Ovid, Fast. 1, 337; Spencer, De Leg. Rit. 3, 2, 2; Lukemacher, Antiq. Groec. Sacr. p. 350; Hottinger, De Usu Salis. etc. [Marburg, 1708]; Schickedanz, id. [Servest. 1758]; Maius, id. [Giess. 1692]; Mill, id. (Ult. 1734]). Our Lord refers to the sacrificial use of salt in Mar_9:49-50, though some of the other associations may also be implied. The purifying property of salt, as opposed to corruption, led to its selection as the outward sign in Elisha's miracle (2Ki_2:20-21), and is also developed in the New Test. (Mat_5:13; Col_4:6). The custom of rubbing infants with salt (Ezra 16:4) originated in sanitary considerations, but received also a symbolical meaning (Richter, De Usu Salis apud Priscos Profano et Sacro [Zittas, 1766]).

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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