Salt

Indispensable as salt is to ourselves, it was even more so to the Hebrews, being to them not only an appetizing condiment in the food both of man, (Job 11:6) and beset, (Isaiah 30:24) see margin, and a valuable antidote to the effects of the heat of the climate on animal food, but also entering largely into the religious services of the Jews as an accompaniment to the various offerings presented on the altar. (Leviticus 2:13) They possessed an inexhaustible and ready supply of it on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. [SEA, THE SALT, THE SALT] There is one mountain here called Jebel Usdum, seven miles long and several hundred feet high, which is composed almost entirely of salt. The Jews appear to have distinguished between rock-salt and that which was gained by evaporation as the Talmudists particularize one species (probably the latter) as the "salt of Sodom." The salt-pits formed an important source of revenue to the rulers of the country, and Antiochus conferred a valuable boon on Jerusalem by presenting the city with 375 bushels of salt for the temple service. As one of the most essential articles of diet, salt symbolized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity and purity. Hence the expression "covenant of salt," (Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5) as betokening an indissoluble alliance between friends; and again the expression "salted with the salt of the palace." (Ezra 4:14) not necessarily meaning that they had "maintenance from the palace," as Authorized Version has it, but that they were bound by sacred obligations fidelity to the king. So in the present day, "to eat bread and salt together" is an expression for a league of mutual amity. It was probably with a view to keep this idea prominently before the minds of the Jews that the use of salt was enjoined on the Israelites in their offerings to God.

Salt

Was procured by the Jews from the Dead Sea, wither from the immense hill or ridge of pure rock salt at its southwest extremity, or from that deposited on the shore by the natural evaporation. The Arabs obtain it in large cakes, two or three inches thick, and sell it in considerable quantities throughout Syria. It well-known preservative qualities, and its importance as a seasoning for food, Job 6:6, are implied in most of the passages where it is mentioned in Scripture: as in the miraculous healing of a fountain, 2 Kings 2:21; in the sprinkling of salt over the sacrifices consumed on God's altar, Le 2:13 Ezekiel 43:24 Mark 9:49; and its use in the sacred incense, Exodus 30:35. So also good men are "the salt of the earth," Matthew 5:13; and grace, or true wisdom, is the salt of language, Mark 9:50 Colossians 4:6. See also Ezekiel 16:4. To sow a land with salt, signifies its utter barrenness and desolation; a condition often illustrated in the Bible by allusions to the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, with its soil impregnated with salt, or covered with acrid and slimy pools, De 29.33; Job 39...9; Ezekiel 47...11; Zep 2...9.

Salt is also the symbol of perpetuity and incorruption. Thus they said of a covenant, "It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord," Numbers 18:19 2 Chronicles 13:5. It is also the symbol of hospitality; and of the fidelity due from servants, friends, guests, and officers, to those who maintain them or who receive them at their tables. The governors of the provinces beyond the Euphrates, writing to the king Artaxerxes, tell him, "Because we have maintenance from the king's palace," Ezra 4:14.

VALLEY OF SALT. This place is memorable for the victories of David, 2 Samuel 8:13 1 Chronicles 18:12 Psalm 60:1-12, and of Amaziah, 2 Kings 14:7, over the Edomites. There can be little doubt that the name designates the broad deep valley El-Ghor, prolonged some eight miles south of the Dead Sea to the chalky cliffs called Akrabbim. Like all this region, it bears the marks of volcanic action, and has an air of extreme desolation. It is occasionally overflowed by the bitter waters of that sea, which rise to the height of fifteen feet. The driftwood on the margin of the valley, which indicates this rise of the water, is so impregnated with salt that it will not burn; and on the northwest side of the valley lies a mountain of salt. Parts of this plain are white with salt; others are swampy, or marked by sluggish streams or standing pools of brackish water. The southern part is covered in part with tamarisks and coarse shrubbery. Some travellers have found here quicksand pits in which camels and horses have been swallowed up and lost, Genesis 14:10 Zephaniah 2:9. See JORDAN and SEA3

COVENANT OF SALT

solt (berith melach; halas, classical Greek hals): As salt was regarded as a necessary ingredient of the daily food, and so of all sacrifices offered to Yahweh (Leviticus 2:13), it became an easy step to the very close connection between salt and covenant-making. When men ate together they became friends. Compare the Arabic expression, "There is salt between us"; "He has eaten of my salt," which means partaking of hospitality which cemented friendship; compare "eat the salt of the palace" (Ezra 4:14). Covenants were generally confirmed by sacrificial meals and salt was always present. Since, too, salt is a preservative, it would easily become symbolic of an enduring covenant. So offerings to Yahweh were to be by a statute forever, "a covenant of salt for ever before Yahweh" (Numbers 18:19). David received his kingdom forever from Yahweh by a "covenant of salt" (2 Chronicles 13:5). In the light of these conceptions the remark of our Lord becomes the more significant: "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another" (Mark 9:50).

Edward Bagby Pollard

SALT

solt (melach; halas, hals): Common salt is considered by most authorities as an essential ingredient of our food. Most people intentionally season their cooking with more or less salt for the sake of palatability. Others depend upon the small quantities which naturally exist in water and many foods to furnish the necessary amount of salt for the body. Either too much salt or the lack of it creates undesirable disturbance in the animal system. Men and animals alike instinctively seek for this substance to supplement or improve their regular diet. The ancients appreciated the value of salt for seasoning food (Job 6:6). So necessary was it that they dignified it by making it a requisite part of sacrifices (Leviticus 2:13 Ezra 6:9; Ezra 7:22 Ezekiel 43:24 Mark 9:49). In Numbers 18:19 2 Chronicles 13:5, a "covenant of salt" is mentioned (compare Mark 9:49). This custom of pledging friendship or confirming a compact by eating food containing salt is still retained among Arabic-speaking people. The Arabic word for "salt" and for a "compact" or "treaty" is the same. Doughty in his travels in Arabia appealed more than once to the superstitious belief of the Arabs in the "salt covenant," to save his life. Once an Arab has received in his tent even his worst enemy and has eaten salt (food) with him, he is bound to protect his guest as long as he remains.

See COVENANT OF SALT.

The chief source of salt in Palestine is from the extensive deposits near the "sea of salt" (see DEAD SEA), where there are literally mountains and valleys of salt (2 Samuel 8:13 2 Kings 14:7 1 Chronicles 18:12 2 Chronicles 25:11). On the seacoast the inhabitants frequently gather the sea salt. They fill the rock crevices with sea water and leave it for the hot summer sun to evaporate. After evaporation the salt crystals can be collected. As salt-gathering is a government monopoly in Turkey, the government sends men to pollute the salt which is being surreptitiously crystallized, so as to make it unfit for eating. Another extensive supply comes from the salt lakes in the Syrian desert East of Damascus and toward Palmyra. All native salt is more or less bitter, due to the presence of other salts such as magnesium sulphate.

Salt was used not only as a food, but as an antiseptic in medicine. Newborn babes were bathed and salted (Ezekiel 16:4), a custom still prevailing. The Arabs of the desert consider it so necessary, that in the absence of salt they batheir infants in camels' urine. Elisha is said to have healed the waters of Jericho by casting a cruse of salt into the spring (2 Kings 2:20 f). Abimelech sowed the ruins of Shechem with salt to prevent a new city from arising in its place (Judges 9:45). Lot's wife turned to a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).

Figurative:

Salt is emblematic of loyalty and friendship (see above). A person who has once joined in a "salt covenant" with God and then breaks it is fit only to be cast out (compare Matthew 5:13 Mark 9:50). Saltness typified barrenness (Deuteronomy 29:23 Jeremiah 17:6). James compares the absurdity of the same mouth giving forth blessings and cursings to the impossibility of a fountain yielding both sweet and salt water (James 3:11 f).

James A. Patch

SALT, CITY OF

(`ir ha-melach; Codex Alexandrinus hai pol(e)is halon): One of the six cities in the wilderness of Judah mentioned between Nibshan and Engedi (Joshua 15:62). The site is very uncertain. The large and important Tell el-Milch (i.e. "the salt hill"), on the route from Hebron to Akaba, is possible.

SALT, PILLAR OF

See LOT; SALT; SIDDIM; SLIME.

SALT, VALLEY OF

(ge' ha-melach): The scene of battles, firstly, between David or his lieutenant Abishai and the Edomites (2 Samuel 8:13 1 Chronicles 18:12 Psalm 60, title), and later between Amaziah and these same foes (2 Kings 14:7 2 Chronicles 25:11). It is tempting to connect this "Valley of Salt" with es Sebkhah, the marshy, salt-impregnated plain which extends from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the foot of the cliffs, but in its present condition it is an almost impossible place for a battle of any sort. The ground is so soft and spongy that a wide detour around the edges has to be made by those wishing to get from one side to the other. It is, too, highly probable that in earlier times the whole of this low-lying area was covered by the waters of the Dead Sea. It is far more natural to identify ge' ha-melach with the Wady el-Milch ("Valley of Salt"), one of the three valleys which unite at Beersheba to form the Wady ec-Ceba`. These valleys, el-Milch and ec-Ceba, together make a natural frontier to Canaan.

E. W. G. Masterman

CITY OF SALT

See SALT, CITY OF.

PILLAR OF SALT

See SLIME; LOT.

SALT SEA

See DEAD SEA.

SALT, COVENANT OF

See COVENANT OF SALT.

SEA, SALT

See DEAD SEA.

Used to season food (Job 6:6), and mixed with the fodder of cattle (Isaiah 30:24, "clean;" in marg. of R.V. "salted"). All meat-offerings were seasoned with salt (Leviticus 2:13). To eat salt with one is to partake of his hospitality, to derive subsistence from him; and hence he who did so was bound to look after his host's interests (Ezra 4:14, "We have maintenance from the king's palace;" A.V. marg., "We are salted with the salt of the palace;" R.V., "We eat the salt of the palace").

A "covenant of salt" (Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5) was a covenant of perpetual obligation. New-born children were rubbed with salt (Ezek. 16:4). Disciples are likened unto salt, with reference to its cleansing and preserving uses (Matthew 5:13). When Abimelech took the city of Shechem, he sowed the place with salt, that it might always remain a barren soil (Judges 9:45). Sir Lyon Playfair argues, on scientific grounds, that under the generic name of "salt," in certain passages, we are to understand petroleum or its residue asphalt. Thus in Genesis 19:26 he would read "pillar of asphalt;" and in Matthew 5:13, instead of "salt," "petroleum," which loses its essence by exposure, as salt does not, and becomes asphalt, with which pavements were made.

The Jebel Usdum, to the south of the Dead Sea, is a mountain of rock salt about 7 miles long and from 2 to 3 miles wide and some hundreds of feet high.

Salt Sea

(Joshua 3:16). See DEAD SEA.

Salt, The city of

One of the cities of Judah (Joshua 15:62), probably in the Valley of Salt, at the southern end of the Dead Sea.

Salt, Valley of

A place where it is said David smote the Syrians (2 Samuel 8:13). This valley (the' Arabah) is between Judah and Edom on the south of the Dead Sea. Hence some interpreters would insert the words, "and he smote Edom," after the words, "Syrians" in the above text. It is conjectured that while David was leading his army against the Ammonites and Syrians, the Edomites invaded the south of Judah, and that David sent Joab or Abishai against them, who drove them back and finally subdued Edom. (Comp. title to Psalm 60.)

Here also Amaziah "slew of Edom ten thousand men" (2 Kings 14:7; Comp. 8:20-22 and 2 Chronicles 25:5-11).

1. (n.) The chloride of sodium, a substance used for seasoning food, for the preservation of meat, etc. It is found native in the earth, and is also produced, by evaporation and crystallization, from sea water and other water impregnated with saline particles.

2. (n.) Hence, flavor; taste; savor; smack; seasoning.

3. (n.) Hence, also, piquancy; wit; sense; as, Attic salt.

4. (n.) A dish for salt at table; a saltcellar.

5. (n.) A sailor; -- usually qualified by old.

6. (n.) The neutral compound formed by the union of an acid and a base; thus, sulfuric acid and iron form the salt sulfate of iron or green vitriol.

7. (n.) Fig.: That which preserves from corruption or error; that which purifies; a corrective; an antiseptic; also, an allowance or deduction; as, his statements must be taken with a grain of salt.

8. (n.) Any mineral salt used as an aperient or cathartic, especially Epsom salts, Rochelle salt, or Glauber's salt.

9. (n.) Marshes flooded by the tide.

10. (n.) of or relating to salt; abounding in, or containing, salt; prepared or preserved with, or tasting of, salt; salted; as, salt beef; salt water.

11. (n.) Overflowed with, or growing in, salt water; as, a salt marsh; salt grass.

12. (n.) Fig.: Bitter; sharp; pungent.

13. (n.) Fig.: Salacious; lecherous; lustful.

14. (v. t.) To sprinkle, impregnate, or season with salt; to preserve with salt or in brine; to supply with salt; as, to salt fish, beef, or pork; to salt cattle.

15. (v. t.) To fill with salt between the timbers and planks, as a ship, for the preservation of the timber.

16. (v. i.) To deposit salt as a saline solution; as, the brine begins to salt.

17. (n.) The act of leaping or jumping; a leap.

5898. Ir Hammelach -- "city of salt," a place in the Judean desert
... Ir Hammelach. 5899 >>. "city of salt," a place in the Judean desert. Transliteration:
Ir Hammelach Phonetic Spelling: (eer ham-meh'-lakh) Short Definition: Salt ...
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4416. melach -- salt
... << 4415, 4416. melach. 4417 >>. salt. Transliteration: melach Phonetic Spelling:
(mel-akh') Short Definition: salt. Word Origin (Aramaic ...
/hebrew/4416.htm - 6k

4417. melach -- salt
... << 4416, 4417. melach. 4418 >>. salt. Transliteration: melach Phonetic Spelling:
(meh'-lakh) Short Definition: salt. Word Origin of uncertain ...
/hebrew/4417.htm - 6k

4414b. malach -- to salt, season
... << 4414a, 4414b. malach. 4415 >>. to salt, season. Transliteration: malach
Short Definition: salt. Word Origin denominative verb from ...
/hebrew/4414b.htm - 5k

2548. chamits -- seasoned (with salt)
... seasoned (with salt). Transliteration: chamits Phonetic Spelling: (khaw-meets')
Short Definition: salted. ... From chamets; seasoned, ie Salt provender -- clean. ...
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4415. melach -- to eat salt
... << 4414b, 4415. melach. 4416 >>. to eat salt. Transliteration: melach Phonetic
Spelling: (mel-akh') Short Definition: service. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/4415.htm - 6k

8528. Tel Melach -- "mound of salt," a place in Babylon
... Tel Melach. 8529 >>. "mound of salt," a place in Babylon. Transliteration: Tel Melach
Phonetic Spelling: (tale meh'-lakh) Short Definition: Tel-melah. ...
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4414. malach -- to tear away, dissipate
... to tear away, dissipate. Transliteration: malach Phonetic Spelling: (maw-lakh')
Short Definition: salt. salt, season, temper together, vanish away ...
/hebrew/4414.htm - 5k

4420. melechah -- saltiness, barrenness
... << 4419, 4420. melechah. 4421 >>. saltiness, barrenness. Transliteration: melechah
Phonetic Spelling: (mel-ay-khaw') Short Definition: salt. ...
/hebrew/4420.htm - 6k

4379. mikreh -- a pit
... Word Origin from karah Definition a pit NASB Word Usage pits (1). salt pit. From
karah; a pit (for salt) -- (salt-)pit. see HEBREW karah. << 4378, 4379. ...
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