Thought for Today
Numbers 18:19 All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due; it is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and your descendants as well.
2 Chronicles 13:5 Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?
Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.
“Bread and salt are offered to guests in a ceremony of welcome in cultures around the world . . . Salt is an essential nutrient, and has long held an important place in religion and culture. For example, it is mentioned in the Bible dozens of times, including as a covenant of salt. Bread is a staple food, leavened or unleavened. It is usually made of wheat, but other grains can be used. In many cultures, bread is a metaphor for basic necessities and living conditions in general.” “A covenant of salt was a cultural practice in the ancient world in which one party would form a covenant by eating the salt of the other. Usually the party with the greater power or authority provided the salt. (en.wikipedia.org)
Some forms of basic carbohydrate like bread and salt have long been considered essential elements necessary to sustain human life. Yet today, many ‘nutrition experts’ warn of the dangers of both. We know the action of sodium chloride, NACL, in controlling our blood pressure. Many popular diets today eschew the consumption of all carbohydrates.
So, who’s correct? Were all our ancestors just wrong in their thinking that bread and salt are essential? Do we need federal legislation banning all salt and bread? Maybe part of MAHA should be the categorizing of bread and salt as controlled substances or the total elimination of both products from our nation.
That suggestion is offered more than a little bit with my tongue firmly embedded in my cheek. I do try to watch my diet. I do carefully monitor my consumption of NACL, more because of the sodium than the chloride. But, I do eat bread every morning with my breakfast.
We have a ubiquitous family story about my affinity for bread. Many years ago, Greta and our children gave me a bread machine for Christmas. After unwrapping it and offering the appropriate thanks, I suggested that it might be better to return that machine and use the money on something we would use more often. They deferred and we kept the machine. I have since worn out that machine and 2 successors. Over the intervening years, I have developed a favored recipe; and, we still enjoy our morning toast.
In the Bible, both salt and bread appear often. Part of the use of both is because, as the quote above notes, they are metaphors for the basic necessities of life. The trouble today is not in the use of these basic necessities but in their overuse. Too much salt raises our blood pressure. Too many carbohydrates increase our weight.
Christians who studied chemistry in high school and/or college have long been puzzled by Jesus’ words about salt losing its saltiness. Obviously, the problem is that we are reading those words literally, not metaphorically. NACL is always NACL. However, as Christians we are able to experience what is known as a crisis of faith. We can even come to no longer believe in Jesus as the Christ. Some even come to the point of doubting God.
To be “the salt of the earth,” means we are to be firmly grounded in our faith, in our belief, in our dedication to God and to the Son of God. Faith is, for Christians, the basic necessity for life itself. And, as Paul reminded the Ephesians, “2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—” And, for what it’s worth, Paul was not telling the Colossians to use salty language. He was not encouraging profanity. Paul was telling them and us to ground our speech in the basic necessities of life, in the Incarnation and ministry of Jesus, the Christ.
Stay safe, be grounded in faith, trust God,
Pastor Ray