Salt

Lev.ii. 13.SALT, Sal; in Greek, Hals; in Hebrew, Melach. God appointed that Salt should be used in all the Sacrifices that were offered to him: And every Oblation of thy Meatoffering 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. Jesus Christ makes an Allusion to this, when, speaking of the Sufferings of the Damned, he says, For every one shall be Mark ix. 48.salted with Fire, and every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt. See also Deut. xxix. 23. The whole Land thereof is Brimstone, and Salt, and Burning.

Ezek. xvi. 4. Hieron. in Ezek. xvi. ita & Theodoret.We see from Ezekiel, that heretofore they rubb’d new-born Children with Salt: Quando nata es … aquâ non es lota in salutem, nec sale salita. St. Jerom thought, that they did this, to dry up the Humidity that abounds in Children; and to close up Galen. de Sanit. l. 1. c. 7.the Pores, which are then too open. Galen says, that Salt hardens the Skins of Children, and makes them more firm. Avicenna acquaints us, that they bathed Children with Water in which Salt has been dissolved, to close up the Navel, and to harden the Skin. Others think, it was to hinder any Corruptions that might proceed from cutting off the Navel-string.

The Prophet Elisha being desired to sweeten the Waters of the Fountain of Jericho, and make them fit to drink, required 2 Kings ii. 21.a new Vessel to be brought to him, and some Salt to be put therein. They follow’d his Orders: He threw this Salt into the Spring, and said; Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these Waters; and for the future they shall not be the Occasion either of Death or Barrenness. And in Reality, the Waters became good for Drinking, and lost all their former bad Qualities. Naturally the Salt must only have served to increase the Brackishness or Bitterness of this Fountain; but the Prophet purposely made use of a Remedy that seem’d contrary to the Effect he would produce, that the Miracle might become the more evident.

Ecclus. xxxix. 31.The Wiseman reckons up Salt in the Number of those Things that are most necessary for Life; as Water, Fire, Iron, Milk, Honey, Grapes, Oil, and Cloaths. Job asks if any one could eat that which is Job vi. 6.not salted: Aut poterit comedi in sulsum, quod non est sale conditum?

The Valley of Salt was situate in Idumea. See VALLEY.

II. The Salt of the Earth, is, probably, Marl, with which they manure their Land in some Countries, instead of Dung. See our Commentary upon Matth. v. 13.

III. Mineral Salt, or Salt that is dug out of Mines, in Form of a hard Stone. ‘Tis thought that Lot’s Wife was changed into Gen. xix. 26.a Statue of such Mineral Salt, that she became as a Rock or Stone of Salt.

IV. Salt is the Symbol of Wisdom: Let Col. iv. 6.your Speech be always with Grace, seasoned with Salt, says St. Paul. And our Saviour Mark ix. 50.says, Have Salt in your selves, and have Peace one with another.

V. Salt is the Symbol of Perpetuity and Incorruption. Thus they said of a Numbers xviii. 19.Covenant, It is a Covenant of Salt for ever, before the Lord. And elsewhere, The 2 Chron. xiii. 5.Lord God of Israel gave the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his Sons, by a Covenant of Salt.

VI. Salt is the Symbol also of Barrenness and Sterility. When Abimelech took Judg. ix. 45.the City of Shechem, he destroy’d it, and sow’d the Place with Salt, that it might always remain desart and unfruitful. ZephaniahZeph. ii. 9. threatens the Ammonites and Moabites, from the Lord; Moab shall be as Sodom, and the Children of Ammon as Gomorrha, even the breeding of Nettles, and Salt-pits, and a perpetual Desolation. See also Job xxxiv. 6. Psal. cvi. 34. Jer. xvii. 6.

VII. Salt is likewise the Symbol of Hospitality, and of that Fidelity that is due from Servants, Friends, Guests, and Domesticks, to those that entertain them and receive them at their Tables. The Go vernors of the Provinces beyond the Euphrates, writing to King Artaxerxes, tell Ezr. iv. 14.him, Because we have Maintenance from the King’s Palace, &c. which, in the Chaldee, is, Because we are salted with the Salt of the Palace.

Gen. xiv. 3. Numb. xxxiv. 12.The Salt-sea: This is the Dead-sea, or the Lake Asphaltites. The Scripture and profane Writers sometimes give the Name of Salt to Asphaltus or Bitumen; whence it is that Moses, speaking of a burning or Deut. xxix. 23. Vulg.parching Salt, Salis ardore consumentur, means Asphaltus, Bitumen, or Pitch. Herodotus also makes mention of certain Lamps that were lighted up in Egypt, in which were put Salt, that is, Bitumen, or such-like combustible Matter.

Psal. lx. Tit.The Valley of Salt. Interpreters generally place it to the South of Mare Mortuum, towards Idumea; because it is said in 2 Samuel viii. 13. 1 Chron. xviii. 12.Scripture, that Abishai kill’d there eighteen thousand Idumeans; that Joab kill’d there twelve thousand of them; and that a long while after this, Amaziah King of 2 Kings xiv. 7. 2 Chron. xxv. 11.Judah kill’d ten thousand Idumeans. Galen informs us,¹ that they made use of the Salt of the Lake Asphaltites to season their Meat; and that it was a stronger Caustic, and digested much more, than the other Salts; because (says he) it is more 1 Macc. xi. 35. & x. 29.boiled. We see also by the Maccabees, that the Kings of Syria had Brine-pits in Judea. Ezekiel, ch. xlvii. 11. says, that the Shores and Marshes on the Dead-sea should be assigned for the Making of Salt. Mr. Halifax, in his Account of Palmyra, speaks of a great Plain all cover’d with Salt, from whence the whole Country round about is supply’d. This Plain is about a League from Palmyra, and extends itself towards the Eastern Parts of Idumea, the capital City of which was Bozra. David beat the Idumeans in the Valley of Salt, as he return’d from Syria of Zobah. It is very probable, that this Plain of Salt, is the Valley of Salt mention’d in Scripture.

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