“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet." Matthew 5:13 (CSB)
"You are the salt of the
earth.”
You know that Jesus was a Master Teacher;
he used illustrations that the people would be able to relate too and be able
to understand.
Salt was a very important element
in Jesus' day, just as it is today. Do any you use Salt?
In many societies, salt was so
highly valued that it was used for money. The English word salary is derived
from the Latin word Salarium which refers to the payments made to a Roman
soldier with salt. Herod’s temple had a chamber of salt for the ceremonial use of
salt. Whenever a city was defeated the custom was to throw salt throughout the
city. This means that the city could not be useful anymore. Elisha used salt to
purify the water of Jericho (2 Kings 2:20) The normal procedures when a child was born was to be rubbed with
salt (Ez. 16:4)
Salt Makes A Difference.
What are some of the uses of Salt?
SALT MAKES YOU THIRSTY. Have
you heard the adage that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him
drink? Wrong! Just put a lot of salt in his oats.
SEASONING. In Bible times and still today salt is used for seasoning our food. Who likes to eat food without salt? Even though salt is so small and yet hardly noticeable it makes a difference when applied to our food.
Preservative. It was also used to preserve food. They did not have the refrigeration systems that we have today. Salted fish and pork was a staple. I remember seeing hams hanging outside a butcher shop on a street corner in Gettysburg, PA in the full Sun. They were salt-cured and thus would not spoil. In order for our lives to be a living sacrifice for God, they must be preserved and seasoned with the righteousness of Christ.
Friendship. Salt was seen as a covenant relationship. The Scriptures say, “It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.” (Numbers 18:19). So salt also represented a relationship. “It represented hospitality that cemented on friendship.” An old Arab saying is “There is salt between us.”
SEASONING. In Bible times and still today salt is used for seasoning our food. Who likes to eat food without salt? Even though salt is so small and yet hardly noticeable it makes a difference when applied to our food.
Preservative. It was also used to preserve food. They did not have the refrigeration systems that we have today. Salted fish and pork was a staple. I remember seeing hams hanging outside a butcher shop on a street corner in Gettysburg, PA in the full Sun. They were salt-cured and thus would not spoil. In order for our lives to be a living sacrifice for God, they must be preserved and seasoned with the righteousness of Christ.
Friendship. Salt was seen as a covenant relationship. The Scriptures say, “It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.” (Numbers 18:19). So salt also represented a relationship. “It represented hospitality that cemented on friendship.” An old Arab saying is “There is salt between us.”
Jesus as He spoke and He preached
this message, His people understood the importance of Salt, and also knew it’s
uses and how important it was in life.
Tomorrow, we will see how this
relates to our witness as a Christian.
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