COVENANT OF SALT

solt (berith melach; halas, classical Greek hals): As salt was regarded as a necessary ingredient of the daily food, and so of all sacrifices offered to Yahweh (Leviticus 2:13), it became an easy step to the very close connection between salt and covenant-making. When men ate together they became friends. Compare the Arabic expression, "There is salt between us"; "He has eaten of my salt," which means partaking of hospitality which cemented friendship; compare "eat the salt of the palace" (Ezra 4:14). Covenants were generally confirmed by sacrificial meals and salt was always present. Since, too, salt is a preservative, it would easily become symbolic of an enduring covenant. So offerings to Yahweh were to be by a statute forever, "a covenant of salt for ever before Yahweh" (Numbers 18:19). David received his kingdom forever from Yahweh by a "covenant of salt" (2 Chronicles 13:5). In the light of these conceptions the remark of our Lord becomes the more significant: "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another" (Mark 9:50).

Edward Bagby Pollard

Covenanting Recommended by the Practice of the New Testament ...
... dominions, when about to be cruelly expatriated for their attachment to the truth,
pledged themselves to adhere to it, by a "Covenant of Salt." The practice ...
/.../the ordinance of covenanting/chapter xiv covenanting recommended by.htm

North and South
... Entailed on Abraham's seed by a covenant of salt, the Holy Land shall receive again
its rightful heritors, the banished shall come to their own again, and no ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 17 1871/north and south.htm

1 Cor. x. 13
... 19; 2 Chronicles 13:5. Theodoret on the latter place says, "By a covenant of salt
for ever, he expresses the stability of the Kingdom, since even Barbarians ...
/.../homilies on the epistles of paul to the corinthians/homily xxiv 1 cor x.htm

The Blood of the Covenant
... We must view our Redeemer in the covenant first as Jesus the Savior who leads us
into the Canaan which has been given to us by a covenant of salt, even the ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 20 1874/the blood of the covenant.htm

The Parable of the Lost Sheep
... He has eternal possession of them by a covenant of salt, wherein the Father has
given them to him: this it is that in great measure stirs his soul so that he ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 30 1884/the parable of the lost.htm

In Death and after Death
... Moreover, as another Rabbi reminds us, the "covenant" is mentioned in connection
with salt (Leviticus 2:13), and also in connection with chastisements ...
/.../edersheim/sketches of jewish social life/chapter 10 in death and.htm

Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant.
... presented when vows were paid: in particular, the offering of salt, the symbol ... be
presented with every offering"the emblem of an enduring covenant:[414] the ...
/.../cunningham/the ordinance of covenanting/chapter vi covenanting provided for.htm

The New Covenant.
... hangs will pass away, and his dream of a more spiritual covenant, established on ...
It was the salt of their character, the life of their inspiration, the message ...
/.../chapter viii the new covenant.htm

Micah's Message for To-Day
... He gives himself to you; take him to be yours by a covenant of salt that never shall
be broken; and give yourself to him, saying, "I am my Beloved's, and my ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 39 1893/micahs message for to-day.htm

Prophetic Sentences
... be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit
the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and ... The New Covenant. ...
/.../various/select masterpieces of biblical literature/viii prophetic sentences.htm