You Shall Offer Salt

Here's another "blast from the past" from the first parashah of Leviticus, Vayikra, "and He called."

“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 of your offerings you shall offer salt.” -Leviticus 2:13

Last week’s Torah portion contained a description of the construction of the tabernacle, its furnishings, and the priestly garments. This portion, Vayikra, begins a description of the service of the tabernacle and the duties of the priests. Since Yeshua is described as both temple (Rev. 21) and High Priest (Heb. 7), the particulars of the construction and service of the tabernacle reveal his character and the responsibility of his people toward him. It is with this in mind that the meaning and purpose of salting sacrifices must be considered. Salt speaks of preservation and perseverance, two aspects of the covenant to which the salted offerings pertain.

Much commentary has been written about the preservative aspect of salt. For example, “you are the salt of the earth,” is generally understood to mean that believers are a preservative force against the corruption of the world. Since this aspect has been widely explained, I will not address it here. The second aspect, perseverance, is less commonly noted but offers insight into the text above (Lev. 2:13) and other related passages. The persevering aspect of salt may be seen in the grain offering. After the offering was burned on the altar the salt would remain unchanged. Among the ashes would be unburned, unmelted, persevering salt, a testimony to the continuing nature of God’s covenant and his desire for the perseverance of believers.

There are two passages where salt and a covenant appear together in the Bible: Leviticus 2:13 and Numbers 18:19. In both cases, the phrase occurs in the context of an offering and speaks of an everlasting commitment of God to his people. The covenant of salt, according to one commentary, was a Near Eastern tradition that consisted of ratifying a covenant through the eating of a seasoned meal. Taken in this sense, the requirement of salt in the offering could be a reminder of the meal that Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders ate before God as a seal of the covenant newly made with the people in Exodus 24. Similar covenant meals include that of Laban and Jacob (Gen. 31:46) and that of Yeshua and his disciples (Matt. 26:28). These are covenants of salt.

The perseverance of salt through the sacrificial fire teaches of the importance of salt for believers. In Mark 9:49-50, Yeshua says, “For everyone will be seasoned by fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” Believers, as living sacrifices (Rom. 12), must be seasoned with salt so that as trials consume the outward person eternal glory will be revealed (2 Cor. 4:16). Having salt may be compared to building well on the foundation of the Messiah (1 Cor. 3:12-15). If a believer has salt in himself, then he is able to season his speech with salty, eternal words (Col. 4:6) and awaken the sense of eternity in every man’s heart. Yeshua’s question about how tasteless salt can be seasoned demonstrates a grave danger, which is also explained in Hebrews 6:4-8. If the flavor is lost, then the salt is worthless and will not withstand either the trials of this world or the baptism of fire that is to come (2 Pet. 3:10).

The practice of salting a sacrifice to God is a reminder of the covenant of salt, an enduring covenant. The covenant is connected to the fellowship meal, which finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord’s Passover. All believers are to have salt in them, salt that is the remembrance of the covenant and will enable them to persevere trials and preserve them through the judgment of the earth by fire.

How Heresies Function

As I was thumbing through Volume 3 of Francis Schaeffer's complete works, I found the following teaching about how heresies function. I found his observation compelling and particularly applicable to this corner of belief and practice known as "Messianic" as we have encountered many "Points 40–50" teachers and have to some extent been guilty of emphasizing certain points of teaching out of context and proportion to the whole (Points 1–100). The quoted passage is from the last few pages of the book The New Super-Spirituality, as found in The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer, Volume 3, A Christian View of Spirituality (p. 399ff).

"It is interesting to see how heresies function and how the Devil wins out. Let us say that the complete body of Christian teaching consists of points 1–100. Now, then, we must realize that this Christian teaching is not just dogmatic, but meets the needs of man as God has made him and as man now is since the Fall. So, in order for the whole man to find fulfillment, he must have teaching from points 1–100. If you study church history, I think you will find that heresies arise like this: the church begins to fail to preach, or preaches very weakly, say, points 40–50.

Let us say, therefore, that points 40–50 are unstressed. Two things follow. First, the situation is unbiblical. True Christianity is a balanced whole. Second, Satan takes points 40–50 out of the total Christian framework and encourages someone to overemphasize them. And this becomes heresy. In other words, points 40–50, instead of being kept in line and in relationship to the rest of Christian doctrine, are moved out and away from the whole system. Being out of place, they somehow become inverted or reversed.

But why does Satan win? He wins because there is a longing and a need in the human heart and mind; points 40–50 are needed because the whole of Christian teaching is needed, not only to give one the right Christian system, but to meet the needs of total man as he is in the fallen world. Satan wins because when people recognize the lack of points 40–50 in their church and suddenly see someone stressing them, they go to that group not realizing that the points are being overstressed, and they are caught in a net.

One group is stressing points 40–50, but in an overemphasized way, out of relationship to the whole of Christian doctrine. Another group, on the other hand, sees this overemphasis on points 40–50 as a heresy, and so they retreat in the opposite direction. They preach points 40–50 even less than they did before in order to be safe, in order to be clearly seen as not being a part of a heresy or wrong teaching. Satan fishes equally on both sides, and he wins on both sides."

For the reader: what are some "points 40–50" that come to mind? How have we or have we not been successful these types of situations? Please leave comments, stories, and questions in the comment box.