COVENANT OF SALT (2)

“You shall not allow the SALT of the COVENANT of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer SALT” – Leviticus 2:13b

The Bible first mentioned the COVENANT of SALT as God’s Promise to the Levitical priests: “And every offering of your grain offering you shall SEASON with SALT; you shall not allow the SALT of the COVENANT of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer SALT” (Lev.2:13). This was Priority: Three mentions of “Salt” in one verse of scripture! Why was “Salt in the Grain” and “Salt in the Sacrifice” so critical? Salt was an important part of the offering because it spoke of purity, of preservation, and of expense. Every sacrifice offered to God should be pure and enduring, and should cost something – be valuable!

Salt has always been a valued commodity; hence God required it in Old Testament sacrifices. It was of high value and seen as a great sacrifice to give up. Salt was a necessity of life used by many cultures as a seasoning, preservative, disinfectant, for ceremonial offerings, and unit of exchange. According to the Mosaic Law, the salt of the covenant was not to be missing from grain offerings, and it became a model for other covenants such as the Davidic (2 Chr.13:5). Salt, in many cultures, symbolized friendship and promises, and spoke to deep relationships. As useful as leaven and sweet as honey are, they represent natural relationships, unacceptable to God in sacrifices (v.11). Oil and frankincense signify the Resurrected Lord (v.15).

The covenant of salt is also described in Numbers 18:19 when Moses spoke to the priests about God’s covenant with them: “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a COVENANT of SALT forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.” This is a covenant of permanence and incorruptibility; that is, an incorruptible, everlasting covenant. As salt was added to different kinds of viands, not only to give them a relish, but to preserve them from putrefaction and decay, it became the emblem of incorruptibility and permanence.

According to ancient customs, a bond of friendship was established through the eating of salt. It was said that eating a man's salt produces friends for life. God wanted every sacrifice to be a reminder of this desired relationship. The covenant of salt signifies a promise of God to provide for the priests and their descendants, and to establish with them a lasting relationship. Believers in Christ have been made “kings and priests” to God (Rev.1:6); hence, the Covenant of Salt has relevance to the New Testament Kingdom priests as it did to the Levites of old, representing the long-lasting nature of the relationship between God and the priests. Now in Christ, this relationship is eternal!