Many of us use salt without thinking -sprinkling it on French fries, seasoning meat and eggs, bringing out the flavors in various soups and such. We use salt with such regularity that it’s easy to forget how valuable salt has been in history. At some point the Latin word for salt became Sal, which was associated with the word for wages -a solarium, from which we get the world salary.
In the first century, everyone was vitally aware of the importance of salt. In that time it was used for preserving meats, for medicinal purposes, for seasoning food and even as a sign of friendship. Salt was seen as a valuable commodity due to its many uses. Jesus was well aware of that fact.
You are the salt of the earth
Jesus started His Sermon on the Mount talk with the Beatitudes -eight characteristics that are essential for every believer to have that bring blessings and happiness, but also persecution.
The final Beatitudes says they we will be persecuted for Christ’s sake, but we are to bear that persecution with joy.
After saying this, Jesus declared, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses it flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” -Matthew 5:13.
Salt has some important characteristics -characteristics that Jesus said are essential for a believer at any time, and especially when enduring persecution.
So, what does “salt of the earth” mean?
Physically, salt had many uses and benefits for man. Spiritually, being “the salt of the earth” also carries great meaning for our lives. Consider these qualities of physical and spiritual salt:
- Salt is a preservative. Salt is used to preserve meats, so it represents the quality of lasting endurance. Salt is such a powerful preservative that it is the term God uses to describe His enduring covenant with David and His people in Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5. It is this same endurance that God’s people are ti demonstrate -Matthew 24:13.
- Purity. Based on its color and ability to preserve foods, salt “came to symbolize purity.” Salt represents the purity that believers are to be striving to attain. This purity comes from not being too closed tied to the world -James 1:27, from recognizing that God’s commandments are “pure” -Psalm 19:8 and by living in accordance with those commandments -Revelation 22:14.
- Salt accompanied the grain offering. In the Old Testament, salt was part of the grain offering that God instructed Israel to give Him -Leviticus 2:13. Like all of the offerings, it pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus and His pure life that was given in order that our sins could be forgiven and that we might be purified -Romans 6:10; 13-14.
- Salt makes us thirsty. One of the most common uses of salt in the ancient world and today is to enhance the flavor of foods -to enhance the experience of eating -Job 6:6. Jesus wants our lives to enhance the experiences of others around us in the same way that salt enhances a meal. One of the surest ways to do this is with speech that is “gracious “ and filled with truth and kindness -Colossians 4:6.
Believers are to set an example, to spread God’s message of good news, and to be the elect for whose sake the tribulation will be shortened -Matthew 24:14, 22.
In the Middle East, salt was sometimes collected by allowing seawater (especially the Dead Sea) to evaporate. After the sun dried up the water, salt was left.
But, this wasn’t exactly a perfect process and often impurities were mixed with the sale. At times, these impurities were so intermingled with the salt that the entries batch had to be thrown out. Since this defiled salt was not useful as Jesus said it was trampled underfoot.
Strictly speaking, salt cannot lose its sadness; sodium chloride is a stable compound. But most salt in the ancient world derived from salt marshes, rather than by evaporation of salt water, and therefore contained many impurities. The actual salt, being more soluble than the impurities, could be reached out, leaving a residue so diluted that is was of little use.
The question “How can it be made salty again? It is not meant to have an answer. The point is that if Jesus’s disciples are to act as a preservative in the world by conforming to kingdom norms if they are called to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent they can discharge this function only if them themselves retain the virtue.
God’s people must not list their purity or cease to add flavor to the lives of others; to stop would be to become useless.
Jesus was warning His followers that they must continue to be the same of the earth, living rightly so that God will preserve us and up humanity.
Jesus stated that the Great Tribulation would be ended before human extinction “for the elect’s sake.” -Matthew 5:24:22
God’s people must not lose their purity (as salt) or cease to add flavor to the lives of others; to stop would be to become useless -Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:49-50.
Jesus’s encouragement to be the same of the earth is mentioned right after He promised a reward for those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake. For followers of Jesus in the end times, it’s not a matter of if the persecution will come but when -Matthew 24; Luke 21; Mark 13.
Presucutiom shouldn’t change how we react to people. Jesus’s declaration that we are the salt of the earth is a reminder that we are called to live by a higher standard than the works around us accepts, and God’s standard doesn’t change when persecution comes -1 Peter 2:19-20.
From Pity to Praise 