Investigating the Bible: More on salt

A lady stood at a city corner, handing out brochures promoting her church. Evidently, she was having a bad day and was in a foul mood, which unfortunately was obvious to one man. As she extended the folded paper to him with a frown on her face, he replied, “Lady, I don’t think I want what you’re offering. Apparently, it hasn’t done much good for you.” Ralph Waldo Emerson reportedly said, “Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear what you say.” Jesus’ conduct was immensely welcoming. Thousands followed him, constantly amazed by his wisdom, his miracles and his compassion. His followers received the high call to imitate him.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used a mineral to illustrate a believer’s lifestyle: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on my men.” (Matthew 5:13, Holman Christian Standard Bible used throughout unless noted). Some salts were sea salt, which was white to light gray. When unscrupulous vendors adulterated salt with sand, it was worthless.

Salt had uses other than seasoning in New Testament days. It was the common preservative, drawing moisture out of meat and delaying decay. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt. The Latin word for salt, sal, became the root of our word, salary.

Salt was also used much like antiseptics and topical antibiotics. While the phrase, rubbing salt in a wound, suggests a vengeful act in our culture, it was originally the treatment of a first century physician. They used it to clean a wound and thought it had healing powers. There’s some truth to that. Coarse grains of salt scrubbed on raw, bleeding flesh is painful, however if the salt is pure, it cleans the wound. The ancients knew that injuries rubbed with salt healed better. We know that new bleeding caused by a vigorous scrub with a clean agent would flush clean a wound and the salt helped dry flesh.

The healthful benefits of salt were likely what those sitting on the mountain first thought when Jesus told them to “be like salt.” They were poor and if they had any salt, they would save it for some future injury. Jesus emphasized the healing function of being salt-like in his next words: “You are the light of the world. … In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14,16). His disciples carried on this message: “Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.” (1 Peter 2: 12).

It is most difficult to be salt-like when we have adversities or suffer. Tennis legend, Arthur Ashe, won three Grand Slam titles in singles and was the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team. The good that he accomplished later in his life is too long for this article: He fought discrimination against Blacks in America, he was arrested for protesting in an anti-apartheid rally, and he established the Foundation for the Defeat of Aids.

From transfusions received during heart surgeries, Ashe contracted HIV before blood tests for the virus were available. He died from complications of HIV in 1993. He finished writing his memoir, “Days of Grace” less than a week before his death. On the opening page of his book, he chose a verse which explained the ongoing challenges of doing good: “...since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1, New King James Version).

David Carlson Pastor (yes, that is his last name, not his profession) lives in Oregon and is a graduate of Bethel Theological Seminary in Minnesota (M.Div., M.Th.).