Salty
“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 men.” (Mat 5:13 AMP)
Salt
in the Middle East is in plentiful supply, and found in several different
forms. The Dead Sea, in Israel, has the
highest percentages of salt of any body of water on the face of this earth, and
is more than 1300 feet below sea level. Much of the salt taken from the area
surrounding the Dead Sea is not “pure”
salt, and has other minerals mixed in with it.
When exposed to natural elements, the outer layers, or crusts, will lose
their “saltiness”, and need to be removed.
This would expose the inner layers, the pure salt, which could then be
used for “seasoning” and preserving. The
outer layers were most often used as a road base in the time of Messiah Yeshua,
so yes, the worthless salt was trampled underfoot (see our opening verse).
Salt
is one of the symbols of Elohim’s covenant with us, His chosen people (see Num
18:19), and the covenant of salt is an everlasting, eternal covenant. When Messiah Yeshua is telling us that we are
the salt of the earth, He is telling us that we, those of us that have entered into a covenant relationship with
our Messiah, are symbolic of the “salt covenant” that we have with our ABBA
Father (see Col 4:5-6). Because salt not
only acts to strengthen the flavor of food, but also to preserve food from
corruption, so are we to function in
those same duties in the society that we live in (strengthen the flavor and
preserve from corruption). And herein is
the key of the covenant of salt:
“Have
salt in yourselves, and have peace
with one another.” (Mark 9:50 NKJV ,
emphasis mine)
The
covenant begins with us, and the salt needs to be applied to our own lives first. As we continue to
walk in surrender to the work of the Spirit of YHWH, the salt will season us,
bring out the fullness of our flavor. It will also expose all hypocrisy and
impurities, and burn them out of us, preserving in us the pure Word of truth. Then, and only then, will we have the
seasoning effect that Elohim desires us to have on the world around us.
However,
when we fail to heed the Spirit of YHWH within, our seasoning will no longer
have the desired result. We have all of
us tasted of food that was too salty,
or perhaps flavorless, with not enough salt. Perhaps we are too “salty” with
our words (and actions), and lack the love and compassion that is needed to
know when enough has been applied. Or
perhaps we have not enough salt of our own, that there would be plenty to
season others with …
“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].” (Col 4:6 AMP,
emphasis mine)
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