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Post by alon on Sept 7, 2022 13:45:55 GMT -8
We are to be “Salt of the Earth” and a "Light of the World"
We read these words in translation (more like transliteration) and loose so much:
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua says the faithful are the "salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13). What did this mean in the context of the original Hebrew, two thousand years ago? Salt was used then as now to season and preserve food. However salt can only “loose its taste” by contamination. Yeshua is saying we are to behave morally and not be contaminated by the world in order to improve the quality, preserve the goodness we have in Him, and be able to share it with that world around us.
Mark 9:50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Salt played a major role in some ancient covenants in meals that were eaten on the establishment of a pact. What is fundamental is that “the communion partaking of salt is a sign of friendship and a symbol of communality.” [from Wilhelm Rudolph’s Handbuch zum Alten Testament volume on Ezra and Nehemia]
Eating meals together forms a bond:
- Binding mutual commitments result from the hospitality of table fellowship. … The “covenant of salt” transfers to the divine covenant the notion of hospitality associated with table fellowship, with its subsequent commitment to loyalty and solicitude; Israel is to keep its covenantal obligations, although God, too, is to provide for the election and rights of the covenantal partner . . . . (Hermann Eising, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, s.v. salt)
- Leviticus 2:13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
- Numbers 18:19 Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.”
- 2 Chronicles 13:5 Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?
“The covenant was made with Aaron with something that is not just healthy [i.e. resistant to decay], but maintains the health of other things.” (Sifrei Bemidbar, Korah, pis. 118, ed. Horovitz)
Another way to make a salt covenant was for each man to take a pinch from his own salt packet and place it in the center of a cloth. The salt was then mixed, and each man took back his pinch. The idea was that if any man could take back just his own grains and no others- which is of course impossible- he could break the covenant.
When Yeshua spoke the Sermon on the Mount twenty centuries ago, he said the words “salt of the earth” in Hebrew – melach ha-aretz – and everyone understood him. Salt became a symbol of uprightness and integrity because of its stability and preservative qualities., It was added to all sacrifices in the Temple (Lev. 2:13), as in the covenant God made with David (2 Chr. 13:5). It was basic to the ceremonial meal eaten to seal a pact. To be the “salt of the earth” is be resolved, firm, unwavering in our purpose, like a covenant of salt. The Bible refers to this type of unbreakable covenant as an “everlasting covenant of salt”, brit melakh olam (בְּרִית מֶלַח עוֹלָם).
But what about the “city on a hill?” Where was it, and what has it to do with salt?
Christianity typically teaches Yerushalayim is the city on a hill. But we must consider the geography and ask is there some place where He is at to which would serve as an example. When He says this, everyones attention would immediately go to the eastern side of the lake to the Decapolis, just across Lake Tiberius from where they were seated. There’s a hill that stands out on an island of rock which is connected by a spur of rock to the hills behind it. It is the site of Hippos (Susita). The only city that sat right on the shoreline in the Decapolis region. Built in the Greco-Roman style, with extravagant architecture and paved roads, lanterns down these roads probably illuminated the city. It is elevated, easy to see; a spectacular example of the power of Rome sitting on the horizon of all who lived on the Sea of Galilee. So there’s a large city on a hill, whose light shines out like a beacon every night. He’s saying your light should shine that brilliantly. You are salt to preserve your witness, now use it!
