Salt of the Covenant: The Biblical Significance and Power of Salt
Quick Summary
Salt represented a binding covenant: In the Old Testament, salt marked permanent and unalterable agreements between God and His people.
Required in every offering: The Mosaic Law made salt mandatory for sacrifices, prompting earthly kings to supply it in unlimited quantities.
Preserving the living sacrifice: Physical salt cures and preserves; spiritually, faith and the Holy Spirit salt us, preparing the body to be presented as a living sacrifice.
Salt is a basic part of daily life. Throughout Scripture, however, God used salt to teach important truths about His promises, the way we worship, and how He keeps His people.
Looking across the Old and New Testaments, this article considers salt in four main areas: establishing covenants, carrying out sacrifices, describing the believer's walk of faith, and preserving the living sacrifice.
1. The Old Testament Covenant of Salt
In the Old Testament, making a covenant of salt was a serious action. Salt stood for permanence and honesty. God set up key promises regarding the kingdom and the priesthood for Israel using this specific language.
God gave the kingdom to David and his descendants by a covenant of salt:
‘Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?’ — 2 Chronicles 13:5
He also established the priestly offerings for Aaron and his family as a lasting law:
‘All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to Jehovah, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, by a law forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before Jehovah to you and to your seed with you.’ — Numbers 18:19
2. Mandatory in Worship and Provided Without Measure
Under the Mosaic law, salt was not optional. Every food offering brought to God had to include salt.
God gave clear instructions in the law:
‘And every sacrifice of your food offering shall you season with salt. And you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your food offering. You shall offer salt with all your offerings.’ — Leviticus 2:13
Even foreign rulers recognised how essential salt was for Israel's sacrifices. When King Darius ordered support for the rebuilding of the temple, he decreed salt be provided daily without fail. Later, King Artaxerxes went even further, decreeing that salt be supplied to the priests without measure—setting no limit on how much they could use.
‘And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail...’ — Ezra 6:9
‘Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.’ — Ezra 7:22
3. The Benefits and Symbolism of Salt
In practical terms, salt has several useful properties:
Preserving: It stops meat from spoiling—older or tougher meat requires more salt.
Curing: It purifies bad water, as seen when Elisha treated the spring at Jericho.
Improving soil: In the right amount, it helps land produce crops.
Healing and protecting: It cleans wounds, kills pests, and melts ice.
These physical uses point to spiritual truths. Salt represents faith in our hearts and the preserving work of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus explained this connection during His ministry:
‘For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.’ — Mark 9:49–50
4. Salted by Faith and the Holy Spirit: The Promise of Redemption
In the Old Testament, physical sacrifices were washed with water and salted before being placed on the altar fire. In the New Testament, Jesus gives new insights on this:
‘For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.’ — Mark 9:49
This gives us insights on how to become a ready offering:
Washed: The cleansing of baptism.
Salted: The application of faith evidenced through works.
Fire: The anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Sacrifice: Living sacrifice of spirit, soul and body.
In the physical world, salt can preserve meat and stop it decaying. Similarly, a body must be salted with faith before it can receive the fire of the Spirit and be offered as a living sacrifice. Salt is an essential element to preserve the living body. If the salt is lost, the body cannot be preserved and must be dissolved at death.
Jesus’ instruction to not just be salted externally, but to ‘have salt in yourselves’, represents having the fulness of God’s Spirit dwelling on the inside which results in the preservation of spirit, soul and body, and being made like Jesus.
‘But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ — Romans 8:11
‘For in Him [Jesus Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’ — Colossians 2:9
This quickening fulfills Paul’s call to be living sacrifices:
‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.’ — Romans 12:1
And the act of ‘preserving with salt’ brings on a new meaning when considering:
‘And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ — 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Key Takeaway:
Salt in Scripture is far more than a sprinkling of God in our lives; it points to His covenant framework for preservation. Moving beyond an outward application (Hebrews 6:1), where we are washed through baptism, salted with faith evidenced by works, and anointed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls us to ‘have salt in ourselves’ and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. When the Spirit that raised Christ dwells within, our mortal bodies are preserved to prevent decay, opening the way to be made like Jesus with whole spirit, soul, and body preserved blameless unto His coming.
Scripture Reference Notes
The full texts of the supporting Scriptures referenced throughout this article are provided below:
2 Chronicles 13:4–5 — ‘And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; (5) Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?’
Ezra 6:7–10 — ‘Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. (8) Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. (9) And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail: (10) That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.’
Ezra 7:21–22 — ‘And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily, (22) Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.’
2 Kings 2:19–22 — ‘And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. (20) And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. (21) And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. (22) So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.’
Romans 8:11 — ‘But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’
Colossians 2:9 — ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’
Romans 12:1 — ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.’
1 Thessalonians 5:23 — ‘And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Hebrews 6:1 — ‘Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,’
Matthew 5:13–16 — ‘Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (14) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (15) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’
All Scripture references are quoted from the King James Version.