A Covenant of Salt

Several places in the scriptures it speaks of a "covenant of salt" (For example, 2 Chronicles 13:5; Numbers 18:19). And, as I've pointed out in earlier posts, all sacrifices under the law of Moses were made with salt. This tells us that salt was very important. But what exactly is meant by a "covenant of salt?"

Among the many meanings in the symbolism of salt is the fact that salt is permanent. If you crush it you simply get finer salt. It takes a fire of over 1,400 degrees F to melt it. As a matter of fact, salt poured on a grease fire extinguishes the fire. Salt dissolved in water can be recovered by evaporating the water. Salt buried in tombs that archeologists have uncovered is thousands of years old but still good and perfectly edible. The only way to make salt useless, to make it unsavory, is to pollute it with dirt or sand.

Thus covenants made with salt are permanent and can be broken only by pollution from sin. Obviously that means that God who does not sin will never break a covenant. Only we mortals sin and break covenants. Thus a "covenant of salt" is a permanent, lasting covenant that if not broken brings great blessings into our lives.

Salting and Swaddling

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's "Madonna and Child" (1319)

One of the things that sent me searching the subject of salt is the fact that Jesus was salted before He was swaddled. It was the custom of the day to wash, salt, and then swaddle a baby and all were part of the same procedure. In many places in the Middle East this custom is still practiced. As a matter of fact, this is so important in some Bedouin tribes that even today if there is no salt available to salt a newborn, camel urine is used because of its salt content.

No one knows for sure why babies were salted or exactly how it was done. Some say salt was mixed with olive oil and the baby rubbed with it, others say the baby was washed with salted water, still others say a small amount of salt was rubbed onto the baby's skin. Too much salt will kill an infant so only a pinch of salt would have been used. The baby was then swaddled or wrapped with a long two to three inch band of cloth from head to foot in such a way that it held the joints straight. This was a symbolic gesture suggesting that the child would be raised to be upright before the Lord and would never be crooked or wayward. The babies were not left swaddled for long, but during the short time they were swaddled the parents would meditate and give thanks for the child entrusted to their care.

The reason for the salting of infants is just as debated as the practice, but from studying the significance of salt in the Law of Moses it is obvious that salt is a symbol of an everlasting covenant and of the honesty and integrity that should accompany any covenant with the Lord. Under the Law of Moses, every sacrifical offering was offered with salt. Therefore I side with those who think that the salting of babies had something to do with dedicating this new member of the House of Israel to the Lord. Thus Jesus, like all sacrificial offerings under the Law of Moses, was salted, and knowing that his atoning sacrifice would fulfill and end the law of blood sacrifice, He instructed that the new law would be that we are to be "the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13 and 3 Nephi 12:13).

What this means is that we are the covenant people of the House of Israel and thus we are to enhance, protect, preserve, endure, and sustain the covenant (the Good News!) that Jesus Christ made possible.

What Am I Bound to?

Today the semester begins and that means I start teaching Book of Mormon classes again. As this beginning has approached, I’ve been thinking a lot about what religion is. We all use the word and usually when we do we are thinking of it simply as a denomination. For example, “My religion is Catholic or Baptists or LDS.” But that use of religion is synonymous with denomination. But when I say “Religion is a way of life,” what does it mean?

Our English word religion comes from the Latin word religare which means “to bind.” So the word originally referred to that which binds a person.  When used in the context of an institution which administers the things which bind us we realize that refers to the covenants, vows, and ordinances available in the Church which are meant to bind us to God.  But on another level we realize that what binds us to anything are our habitual attitudes and feelings. There is a valuable insight in this distinction. If our covenants, vows, and ordinances do not become habitual attitudes and feelings they fail to bind us to God—they remain only uttered words.

Religion, then is a way of thinking and living. It is something very internal to our being, Thus everyone has a religion, and it is important that we each determine what our religion is. Is it the same as what our covenants have proclaimed or is it something different?