Salt is one of the main products of tears and is essential to life. Its amazing properties captured the imagination of early scientific inquiry into the laws of God’s nature. While salt remains unchanged by the flame of a fire, one drop of water accomplishes the dissolution of the salt that the fire for all of its power cannot achieve. By the time of our Lord, the technology and art of salt making, its trade, and its commerce all were ancient. In some of humanity’s earliest preserved writings, the Chinese author Png-tzao-kan-mu described the methods of extracting and processing more than 40 types of salt. It is believed that the very oldest trade routes were created for salt traffic (R2099).

Among inland peoples a salt spring was regarded as a special gift of the gods, and so a religious significance began to be attached to it. Homer called salt “divine” and Plato called it “a substance dear to the gods.” It is not surprising then that place names should mark salt production centers. In Great Britain, “Wich,” the Anglo Saxon word for “salt town,” appears in the important salt production centers of Northwich, Middlewich and Nantwich. “Sal,” the Latin word for salt, was part of the pay for Roman soldiers who received a “salary” or salt allotment. Salt was an unofficial form of money in the Lord’s day, and even as late as the 20th century served as currency in Ethiopia, Tibet, and Borneo.

SALT — THE WISDOM OF CHRIST’S SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Early in our Lord’s ministry, word that he was to teach near the Sea of Galilee spread throughout the district (Mat- thew 4:25). In response, a multitude gathered to learn for themselves about this compelling new rabbi. On the appointed day, Jesus and the disciples gathered the multitude and he set himself down. For a teacher to thus sit was the custom for rabbinical style instruction. Following his example, his close disciples and the multitude also settled down (Matthew 5:1). When all were comfortable, Christ spoke to the quieted crowd and delivered his beloved Sermon on the Mount.

His was not the excited sermonizing that might ignite a crowd’s frenzy. His was not the harangue of a political zealot stirring up smoldering embers of hate and rebellion against Rome. If some of the multitude came to hear a “reed shaking in the wind” (Matthew 11:7) they were to be disappointed.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the words of Jesus were to “distil as the dew” (Deuteronomy 32:2), refreshing the hearts of the faithful with their wisdom and giving pause even to the skeptical. So powerful were his words thus quietly delivered that on one occasion officers sent from the Sanhedrin to spy on him would confess, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). Christ’s words were “seasoned with salt.” In rabbinical writings, “saltiness” is frequently contrasted with “foolishness” (Latham, J., Religious Symbolism of Salt, Editions Beauchesne, Paris, 1982, p. 31).

This allusion to wisdom was ancient and seems to be the sense of the “salt” in the account of Job: “Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6:6). The Jewish commentator Ramban suggests the sense of this passage should be, “your words do not enter my ears, for a thing that hath no savor is not eaten willingly” (Reichert, V., et al., Job, Soncino Press, 1985, p. 23).

As Christ closed the beatitudes, he enjoined the hearers to consider that they were blessed even in persecution (Matthew 5:11,12): “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.” How strikingly unanticipated it was that Jesus should now direct the attention of his rapt audience towards the consideration of salt, declaring “Ye are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).

SALT A PICTURE OF FELLOWSHIP, THE “COVENANT OF SALT”

So rich in meaning is salt that its symbolism operates on many levels. Salt was a regular part of the meal and in this age it was a necessity rather than a garnish the way we use it today. Typically salt was sprinkled on the bread and eating salt was a social affair. In that era, six grams per day of salt, nearly twice the currently recommended dietary intake, was necessitated by a combination of heat, sweating from the high level of physical demands, and the inherently lower salt content of the principally vegetarian diet.

The disciples “assembled” (Acts 1:4) in Jerusalem to wait for the promise. This word “assembled” literally means “they came together to take salt.” Here the Strong’s Concordance word 4871 is a compound of 4862, “together,” and 233, “salt.” Salt thus understood is a picture of our fellowship and bonding as brethren. In this way salt may refer to our sharing in the fellowship of Jesus and witnessing to it. This understanding of salt as fellowship was nearly universal, and Plautus, a Roman playwright, wrote “Men must eat a peck of salt together before the claims of friendship are fulfilled.”

Literally this would take nearly nine months, suggesting the need to prove friendship. In striking contrast, among both Jews and Arabs far less salt needed to be shared before the obligations to the code of honor respecting salt were accepted. According to this code no one would eat the food of the person whom he sought in any wise to injure. So strongly engrained was this custom that McCarthy, a 19th century traveler in the holy land, reports that Arabs would snatch bread and salt from the tent of a feared fellow in order to obligate him to cease his hostility and render his protection.

This custom, of being faithful to those with whom one ate, was known as the “covenant of salt” or covenant of faithfulness (R4907). To succeed in having an enemy eat at one’s table or partake of one’s food seasoned with salt was equivalent to a pledge of lasting friendship and that he would never do his companion injury. Hence the gravity of our Lord’s words respecting Judas, “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me,” marking an appalling violation of the “covenant of salt.” This was the most reprehensible act of betrayal.

This also is the allusion in Abijah’s reproach of Jeroboam and the rebellious ten-tribe kingdom (2 Chronicles 13:5): “Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?” Here the Lord himself was the faithful party in the sharing of the salt with David’s posterity. Hence, the preservative qualities of salt make it a fitting symbol of an enduring compact.

SALT’S ANTISEPTIC PROPERTIES

Salt is a painful but readily available antiseptic. The curative properties of salt were already recognized in Old Testament times and Elisha alludes to this curative aspect of salt in his miracle of the healing of the waters (2 Kings 2:20-22).

SALT ON THE SACRIFICE — A SYMBOL OF PEACE AND PRESERVATION

The symbolism of salt in the words of our Lord is that the influence of the true Christian upon the world is both a healing, purifying influence, and a preserving influence. The Christian should always work for the preservation of that which is good from the adverse elements of putrefaction and decay (R2099). Because salt serves as a promise of peace with God (Numbers 18:19), it was essential to offer salt along with the grain-based, non-bloody meal offerings. “And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13).

This offering of salt arguably goes back to patriarchal times, for this custom is preserved not only among the Jews but is shared by the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and peoples of India. The preeminent Jewish commentator Rashi, with some hyperbole, suggests that the offering of salt goes back even prior to the fall. “The alliance [between God and man] was contracted with salt from the beginning of the six days of creation when he [the Lord] provided for the water below to be offered in the form of salt [on sacrifices]” (Latham, op. cit., p. 39 citing Munk, E., Le Commentaire de Rachi sur le Pentateuque).

Rashi offers a keen insight as he suggests that the offering of salt is a practical way in which a sacrifice offers both fire and water. The preeminence of applying our Lord’s words on salt to sacrifice is supported by Mark 9:49-50, “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”

How very much like the element of peace in the Christian heart that may endure the flames of trial unscathed and then is available to share its life-giving properties of peace in the sympathizing tear. Let every Christian sacrifice include the salt of peace.

UNSAVORY SALT TRODDEN UNDERFOOT — SALT AS A CURSE

Yet, as our Lord notes, once a batch of salt acquires an unsavory flavor it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot (Matthew 5:13). This salt would certainly be inappropriate to offer with sacrifices even though it still would retain a considerable fraction of salt. Even today, at equestrian and livestock facilities, it is standard practice for salt to be mixed with the soil on the riding floor. Apparently the value of unsavory salt for this service on unpaved roadways was already well established in our Saviors’s time.

Aside from this utilitarian use of unsavory salt, the curse of salt could be pronounced against individuals (Jeremiah 17:5-6). “Thus saith the LORD; cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.”

Giving over of a district to salt was a curse. Here Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-26) served as the type of divine punishment and of the eternal barrenness and cursing: “And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law … and the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah” (Deuteronomy 29:21-23).

Following this guidance, victorious Abimelech “beat down the city [of Shechem], and sowed it with salt” (Judges 9:45). The cursing of a district to be turned to salt is also obliquely employed in Zephaniah 2:9, that promises “Moab shall be as Sodom.” We also find this referred to in Ezekiel 47:11 where the salt marshes appear to be a type of the second death. This custom was also shared by other people, one of the noteworthy examples being the sowing of Carthage with salt after the Roman victory in the Punic wars.

SALT SOURCES

For all its importance to life, only under rare geophysical circumstances does pure halite or common table salt (Sodium Chloride, NaCl) occur in nature (Benison, K.C., Sedimentology, 48(1) p.165-188, 2001). Naturally occurring salt deposits originating from dried saline springs yield an impure salt of marginal value. As we read in Barne’s Notes on the New Testament: “In eastern countries the salt used was impure, mingled with vegetable and earthly substances; so that it might lose the whole of its saltness, and a considerable quantity of earthy matter remains. This was good for nothing except that it was used, as it is said, to place in paths, or walks, as we use gravel. This kind of salt is common still in that country. It is found in the earth in veins or layers, and when exposed to the sun, and rain, loses its saltness entirely. Maundrell says, ‘I broke a piece of it, of which that part that was exposed to the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savor. The inner part, which was connected to the rock, retained its savor, as I found by proof.’ ”

Christ Preaching in Galilee

These observations about the sad state of salt quality encountered by Maundrell must reflect on the impoverished state of the Holy Land at the time of the visit. These salt-rich outcrops would normally be considered the raw material for salt production in more prosperous places. The Barnes explanation sounds like salt with no saltness, and this is entirely correct.

ROMAN SALT MAKING NOT KOSHER

Generally salt making begins when salt-rich deposits, as described by Maundrell, are mined and mixed with fresh water to preferentially dissolve the salt. Naturally occurring waters from a salt spring may also be used. This brine solution is then taken into salt recovery where production methods remained unchanged from Roman times. In traditional “Open Pan” salt making, practiced until the early 19th century, large uncovered pans of brine solution produced from salt-rich deposits were boiled to produce salt. However, from the standpoint of a Jew abiding by the law there were problems with Roman salt. To initiate the controlled growth of salt crystals Romans added blood from oxen, calves, bucks or white-of-egg. Urine was also employed, presumably as a froth flotation agent to bring organic matter in the salt bath to the surface where it could be skimmed off. All of this would have made Roman salt currency and Roman salt-making abhorrent to Jews adhering to Kosher law.

EVAPORATIVE SALT PITS FOR KOSHER SALT

Completely dry salt will never lose its savor. So one object of salt making is to prevent the hygroscopic action of moisture from wetting the salt in the first place. Thankfully, Roman methods have been left behind and modern salt production technology operates by spraying of fine mist containing very pure brine into a moderate vacuum to yield a 0.5% moisture salt — at least ten times drier and hence with a much longer shelf-life than was possible using pan evaporation. Gone are the blood, beer and urine.

But, it is possible for salt to slowly lose its savor if moisture is present and salt is left for years. Slow reactions will then take place with naturally occurring trace acid gases in the atmosphere, particularly with carbon dioxide. There is a spiritual lesson here. Salt, if unused and casually stored, slowly loses its savor.

However, to understand the principal lesson our Lord’s allusion to salt’s lost savor we must consider that both the Judean climate and Kosher law would favor the most ancient of salt production techniques. This is evaporative salt making, a method that produces the highest moisture salt. Irrespective of the ancientness of the technique, in the United States, on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, Morton Salt still maintains a commercially competitive evaporative salt making operation. Evaporative salt making, Roman and medieval salt-making techniques were reviewed by Georgius Agricola in a classic engineering text, as follows.

“… we ought to make as much salt as we can sell. The depth of salt-pits should be moderate, and the bottom should be level, so that all the water is evaporated from the salt by the heat of the sun. The salt-pits should be first encrusted with salt, so that they may not suck up the water. The method of pouring is not less old, but less common, since to pour well-water into salt-pits was done in Babylon, for which Pliny is the authority, and Cappadocia, where they used not only well-water, but also spring-water. In all hot countries salt-water and lake-water are conducted, poured or carried into salt-pits, and, being dried by the heat of the sun, are converted into salt” (Agricola, G., De re Metallica, [On the Nature of Metals], Book XII, Salt, 1556).

The Galilee district is rich farming soil. However, because Jesus typically used illustrations at hand, we may conjecture that some expanse of flat acreage near the shores of the Sea of Galilee was devoted to evaporative salt ponds. Although there is very little flat acreage around the Sea of Galilee, nor is there direct evidence for salt pits, as are found in abundance around the Dead Sea, such production is possible. A flat area of 50 square meters (one half of a soccer field) could supply the annual needs of five thousand adults if the waters came from the lake. If the waters came from one of the salt springs in the area, the salt yield would rise dramatically. These ponds may have stood either within sight or possibly had stood near the route taken by the multitude as they gathered to hear the sermon. Under the normally sunny skies in Galilee, brines were slowly evaporated leaving behind the salt. For those who had witnessed it, this crystallizing salt would glisten with an almost blinding whiteness in the light of the Judean sun. If all went as hoped, this life giving salt so essential in the sacrifice would be fully formed, fully crystallized, and harvested for mankind’s benefits.

FRESH WATER PREFERRED FOR SALT MAKING

Seawater with 30,000 parts per million of dissolved materials, principally halite, may serve as a salt source, however, it is never a preferred source. Though the desirable halite is the chief component of seawater, other dissolved compounds including magnesium sulfate, bromine, and a little of nearly every naturally occurring element, are present as contaminants. Organic residues, algae, and occasional seasonal oddities such as massive jellyfish larvae releases also are present to contaminate the salt. All these impurities impart an undesirable taste. Sea salt starts with a poor savor that can never be refined.

Fresh waters (225 parts per million of salt) tend to have lower concentrations of the disagreeable contaminates with respect to halite. They also are less biologically productive, resulting in fewer organic contaminants. For these reasons they are preferred to seawater. Agricola offers this practical observation about how salt’s savor is lost. “While the salt-water in the salt-pits is being heated by the sun, if they be flooded with great and frequent showers of rain, the evaporation is hindered. If this happens frequently, the salt acquires a disagreeable flavor, and in this case the salt-pits have to be filled with other sweet water.”

UNSAVORY ADDITIONS

What is happening? First, the rain itself brings in mild acid gases that react with the salt, leading to the conditions described by Maundrell. Second, the delayed drying provides more time for the elements of the world to enter the salt. These air-borne contaminants include fine sands, feldspars, clays, muds, pollen, and organic debris, all imparting a disagreeable taste to the salt. This particulate matter also introduces chemicals that alter the halite salt chemically, either directly depositing or leading to the formation of gypsum, dolomite, calcite, glaubers’s salts and certain halite sulfates containing potassium, magnesium and calcium that are “typically found” associated with halite salts (Benison, op. cit.).

Yet, as disagreeable as all of these are, they are probably not sufficient reason for the salt to be cast away and trodden under foot. During his earlier visits to the holy land Maundrell had particularly noted that “the salt used was impure, mingled with vegetable and earthly substances.” As Benison notes in her discussion on salt formation, algae and other living organisms can actually make a home in this hypersaline environment and these are typically contaminants. It is these organisms that also cause the salt to lose its savor. Other researchers corroborate these observations and have focused on studying the “fingerprints” left by the high biological activity in salt beds. Ominously, they have even observed cyanobacteria that release neurotoxins growing in beds of salt.

Unsavory salt indeed!

PROPER SALT FORMING

What, then, was our Lord’s intended lesson in his teaching during the Sermon on the Mount? As the salt ponds were considered, was there already a threatening distant thunderhead? Could a distant roll of thunder be heard portending the raging tempest of that very evening (Mathew 8:24)? Would the salt in the evaporation ponds become wetted again and remain unformed? Would the salt lose its savor?

It is not only one of forming scriptural saltiness in our lives, but of forming it in a timely manner, uncontaminated by the elements of life. The salt forming process and the salt using process are distinctly unlike the forming of the pearl. Pearly growth requires great time, is special, precious, and treasured. Salt making and salt using must be a common or “communion” part of Christian lives in each and every day and each and every meal. Both the babes in Christ and the “seasoned” soldiers of the cross daily need to make salt, use salt, offer salt and most importantly be this salt.

This process takes place in the open before the world and always requires watching unto prayer. There always is a danger of being subsumed by the storms of life that can delay and contaminate the salt forming. As the storms of persecution burst upon us, rather than crying out in despair “Lord save us, we perish,” let us in quietness exhibit our faith and God’s peace in our hearts. Yet, when Christ says:

“YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH”

How significant is the comparison! These words also indicate a responsibility on the part of Christians toward the world in general (R4907). Though we are not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world (John 17:16), our purpose, like our master’s, is for blessing the world and being a preserving influence. “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:56).

Keeping Christ’s mission in focus and his words in our hearts: “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another” (Mark 9:50).

— Richard Doctor

 

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