When I grow up I want to be...SALT!

I was reading in the book of Leviticus a couple of days ago, which takes discipline because I've never found that book to be particularly fascinating. I actually had to mentally prepared myself to read it by saying, "all of His Word is profitable for teaching...all of His Word is inspired...etc".  So I began to read...I got through chapter one and said, "Ok, God I read the first chapter.  I'll read another one tomorrow (or another day)."  But His sweet Spirit pulled me back to it (UGH!)...so I starting reading chapter two.  Now, I've read this book a few times before (hence the bad attitude about reading it again), but this time something leapt off the page at me...

Leviticus 2:13 "You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering;with all your offerings you shall offer salt."

"The salt of the covenant..."  What?  Salt is a big deal to God?  I know that covenants are a really big deal to Him, but salt?  Why???

I'll admit that I'm not a scholar of the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament), so I had to look the answer up.  What I found was intriguing. I believe we should give credit where credit is do, and not steal anyone's work, so much of the information below I gleaned from: 

Covenant of Salt by Chris Suitt "You Gotta Serve Somebody"

Side Note: This website is pretty cool... www.torahclass.com ... It's perfect for those of us who have been "grafted into the vine"... been adopted as sons and daughters of God... been made part of His chosen people. :-)

Ok...so back to salt.  It's referenced in the Word way more than I realized.  When I read the scripture in Leviticus I immediately thought of Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."  Zowie!!!  That's a stinger, but we still don't know what salt is in reference to.  

Suitt writes:
One scholar noted that “salt had an enduring quality and therefore in the Middle East salt was used in ceremonies to seal an agreement."

I think now we are getting somewhere...We need to understand a few things in order to fully understand what God is saying here, like what do the words "covenant" and "salt" really mean. Suitt does a better job than I can, so here is what he has to say:

The first word in the phrase, “covenant”, is the Hebrew word “bĕriyth” (בּרית).  This word basically means an agreement or alliance between two parties where each party makes a pledge to keep their end of the bargain.  The first time this word is found is in Genesis 6:18.  Noah was to build the Ark and gather the animals.  If Noah would fulfill his end of the bargain, G-d would get them safely through the coming storm.  This took trust.  In order to go through the embarrassment of building a boat so far away from water, in order to start gathering supplies for animals which he had quite possibly never seen or even heard of before, Noah had to trust G-d to keep His end of the bargain. 

This agreement was based upon mutual trust.  If Noah did his part, would he trust G-d to do His part?  The answer is given right after G-d writes up the contract.  Noah “did everything just as G-d commanded him.”  Noah showed his trust in G-d through his actions of living out the words of the contract, or covenant.

If we do what God has asked us to do we can trust that He WILL DO WHAT HE SAYS HE WILL DO!  That is covenant.  In our covenants with Him, He bears most (if not all) of the burden of seeing that the covenant is kept.  Mostly, I think, He does this because he remembers we are made of dirt, and because of this are going to get it wrong (really wrong) sometimes.  This gives me such comfort.

What about the word "salt"?

Now let’s consider the idea behind the Hebrew word for salt, “melach” (מלח), a noun that comes from the root word “malach” (מלח) which means to rub to pieces or pulverize, to disappear as dust, or to season or rub with salt.

In the Word the word salt is used literally and figuratively in many ways (more than I ever realized).  It described the dead sea and Lot's wife (when she showed that her heart truly laid with Sodom and Gomorrah; it was poured over the rebellious city of Shechem making it infertile.  But it was also used in temple sacrifices to the Lord as we saw in Leviticus...and to make the incense that was to be burned in the temple....

Continuing on, Exodus 30:34-38 uses melach in the process of making the Temple incense.  David wrote in Psalm 141:2, “May my prayer be set before You like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice”, both of which (incense and sacrifice) had salt added to them.  Is it possible that salt aids our worship to G-d?  Could every act of faith or trust/covenant (1 Corinthians 10:31) be an act of salting our worship?

Salt used for sacrifice (for a sacrifice to happen something has to die) AND worship?  Interesting...
This is what I think it all boils down to...

Romans 12:1-2 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As we offer our bodies as living sacrifices (salt was added) you are dying to self and living for G-d.  How is this seen?  Trusting G-d’s Word (basis of a covenant) and allowing Him to change your life on a daily basis (“transformed by the renewing of your mind”).

As you agree to worship Him through your every day actions, even when it costs you something or goes against your way of thinking, you’ll become salty, which will make people thirsty enough to ask, “Where do you find your peace in the midst of tough times?  How can you live the way you do when everyone else is doing the opposite?”  Those who are the salt of the earth will automatically be the light of the world and will be ready to shine their light on Jesus. 

(There is so much more good information in Suitt's article...may I suggest you read it?)

So there you have it.  The Covenant of Salt (as I see it) in a nutshell.  Sacrifice and worship rolled into one.

Who knew that reading Leviticus could produce such a treasure? ;-)  "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

What was it I said I wanted to be "when I grow up"? SALT!