Dead Sea, Israel, En Boqeq Beach by xta11
Good morning, beloved,
“As for God, His way is perfect! The word of the Lord is tested and tried; He is a shield to all those who take refuge and put their trust in Him.” Psalm 18:30AMP What a lovely way to begin a day, on truth and on the Word!
In Matthew 5: 13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by me. , what was Jesus saying here?
Netbible.org: The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be that both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.
Hear this truth through your soul, friends. Don’t let it go. Genuine, real, true salt never loses its flavor and Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth. Not to be mixed with other minerals, dissolved in water or heat, nothing, stay true to His Word and to HIM…
Dead Sea seen from Jordan by Bernard Gagnon
What can be done with salt that loses flavor? nothing.
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech at all times be gracious (pleasant and winsome), seasoned [as it were] with salt, [so that you may never be at a loss] to know how you ought to answer anyone [who puts a question to you].
Salt here is “…a symbol of lasting concord, because it protects food from putrefaction and preserves it unchanged. Accordingly, in the solemn ratification of compacts, the orientals were, and are to this day, accustomed to partake of salt together..” netbible.org We can look at our conversations, our speech, our words and make sure we are genuine and unchanging in our interactions.
Sunrise at the Dead Sea rises behind the mountains of Jordan. by Guy Haimovitz
Where is salt mentioned in the OT? (You knew this was coming 😉 )
Genesis 19:26 But [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Beautiful salt deposit at Dead Sea by xta11
Leviticus 2:13 Every cereal offering you shall season with salt [symbol of preservation]; neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your cereal offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
Ezra 6: 9 And all they need, including young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests at Jerusalem, let it be given them each day without fail,10 That they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.
Numbers 18:19 All the heave offerings [the lifted-out and kept portions] of the holy things which the Israelites give to the Lord I give to you and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a continual debt forever. It is a covenant of salt [that cannot be dissolved or violated] forever before the Lord for you [Aaron] and for your posterity with you.
2 Chronicles 13: 5 Ought you not to know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?
Judges 9:45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He took the city and slew the people who were in it. He demolished the city and sowed it with salt.
And finally, 2Kings 2
19 And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, inhabiting of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad and the locality causes miscarriage and barrenness [in all animals].
20 He said, Bring me a new bowl and put salt [the symbol of God’s purifying power] in it. And they brought it to him.
21 Then Elisha went to the spring of the waters and cast the salt in it and said, Thus says the Lord: I [not the salt] have healed these waters; there shall not be any more death, miscarriage or barrenness [and bereavement] because of it.
22 So the waters were healed to this day, as Elisha had said.
And so, we learn much about salt in ancient times, not only a preservative, it was a symbol of God’s purifying power; it was part of God’s covenant with David and his descendants; it was part of the sacrificial system.
Truly, I do not believe I will ever look at salt the same way. AGAIN.
Pray on, beloved. PRAY ON.
Related articles
- Actions speak louder than words! (givegodtheglory.wordpress.com)
- “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world” (worryisuseless.wordpress.com)
- Salt and Light (thoughtfulspirituality.wordpress.com)
- The Consuming Fire of God (truthinscripture.com)
- Believers Are Salt and Light (beinvolved.wordpress.com)
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