What is the ‘covenant of salt’?
Let’s read Leviticus 2:11-13 which says, “No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn NO LEAVEN, NOR ANY HONEY, in any offering of the LORD made by fire. As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour. And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou SEASON WITH SALT; neither shalt thou suffer the SALT OF THE COVENANT of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.”
The first five chapters of Leviticus introduce us to the five offerings the Lord instructed His people to offer to Him. They are:
Chapter one – The burnt offering
Chapter two- The meat (meal) offering
Chapter three – The peace offering
Chapter four – The sin offering
Chapter five – The trespass offering
Each one of these offerings speak of the Lord Jesus in different aspects of His work and person. I highly recommend doing a study of these offerings.
Leviticus, chapter 2 deals with the meal offering. Although the KJV renders this as the ‘meat’ offering, it is more accurately translated as the ‘meal’ or the ‘grain’ offering. As you can see from reading verses 1-5, there is no meat in this offering.
It is important for us to learn of these things for we know that, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4). We see in verse 11, that two ingredients must never be added to the meal offering: leaven and honey. Although both were edible, neither were allowed in the offering.
Leaven produces fermentation and is a type of sin as we read in 1 Corinthians 5:6-7, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
HONEY is sweet and is spoken of many times in the Bible. However, in this instance, we see honey representing a natural sweetener and is a type of natural affections. How cautious we must be when dealing with God’s Word. We should make sure we are not adding our own thoughts or interpreting God’s Word in a way that makes it pleasing to us.
Then, in verse 11, we are told of an ingredient that must be added to the meal offering…SALT. In this instance, salt is spoken of as a preservative. It speaks of the permanent and unbreakable covenant between God and Israel. It could also speak of the value of the covenant since salt was often used as currency in those days. When the Bible mentions a covenant, it’s referring to a strong, solemn agreement between two parties…Israel and the Lord.
The use of the phrase ‘salt covenant’ (read also Numbers 18:19, 2 Chronicles 13:5, and Ezekiel 43:24 for further references) would refer to the unbreakable and valuable covenant the Lord has made with His earthly people Israel. (CC) (491.2)