Contemplative Bible Reading

Leviticus 2:13 (New International Version)

Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

I read this verse recently and noticed the striking similarity to one of my favorite verses in the New Testament from Colossians 4:6:

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Today, salt is salt. It comes in those little white paper packets in the condiment bags you find at cheap food places. You break the paper, the salt spills everywhere, and makes a mess. Where it snows, we pour salt on the ice to melt it. It’s just salt. Who cares? People who eat too much salt have high blood pressure and die.

Salt was worth more in the ancient world. It was a symbol of purity and things that endured. The phrase “salt of your covenant” was important. A covenant signified by salt was an important agreement.

“I’ll have lunch with you some day,” is just a figure of speech and is not an important agreement.

“I’ll pay for this house in monthly installments over 30 years,” is an important agreement. It is much more like a covenant of salt.

And then I consider the verse from Colossians. Consider my words carefully. Speak as if I am making a long-term agreement. I guess I don’t do that often enough. Lord, help me to choose my words as if they are enduring and pure and an agreement made with salt, because they are.