OCTOBER 22, 2024
“And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.”(Leviticus 2:13)
Devout Israelites would bring many offerings of different kinds to the Lord as expressions of their gratitude. Likewise, devout believers wish to express their love to our gracious and merciful God for all He has done for us. With the psalmist, we would frequently say, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” It is only reasonable that we should “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.”
How is this to be done? Paul says, “holy, acceptable unto God.” In the language of our text, that which we render to the Lord is to be “seasoned with salt.” Let us ask with Paul. “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Let us also ask another question, “How wilt Thou have me to do it?” Will-worship is not acceptable to God. If an Israelite brought an offering that God did not require, such will-worship would have been rejected. If he brought the required sacrifice but offered it not according to God’s prescribed manner, that too would have been unacceptable, for He is a jealous God.
In the text the Lord three times expressly commands that the offerings were to be offered with salt. Does the All-Mighty Creator of heaven and earth condescend to concern Himself with such minute details in matters of worship and service? Can the absence of a dash of salt render a sacrifice unacceptable, or its presence be absolutely necessary to its being received by Him? Then, let us be certain that nothing in the service of God is dispensable, and nothing can be considered trivial. A pinch of salt may seem exceedingly unimportant, but before the Lord it may not be so. In the service of God, the modification of an ordinance may seem a matter of indifference; or the alteration of a text of Scripture may be thought harmless, but our Lord does not agree, for it is written, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom…”
Notice, the text offers its own explanation for this requirement: “neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering.” It appears, then, that salt was the symbol of the covenant. “The Lord gave the Kingdom to David for ever by a covenant of salt.” By this He meant that it was an unchangeable, incorruptible covenant which would endure, as salt makes things to endure, so that it is not liable to putrefy or corrupt. Whenever you and I are bringing any offering of sacrifice to the Lord, we must take care that we remember the covenant. When we are serving God with our daily service, let us continually offer the salt of the everlasting covenant with our sacrifices.
Some are doing good works in order to be saved. They are under the wrong covenant. All that they shall receive is a curse, for “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Therefore, says the Apostle, “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” Get away from that and get to that other covenant which has salt in it, namely the Covenant of grace, the New Covenant of faith in Christ. Our works are to be sacrifices of salt, made acceptable by the grace of God in Christ.
Let us also understand that salt is the type of purifying power, and with all our sacrifices we have need of a great deal of salt. The salt permeates the meat, it drives away the corruption; it preserves it. Should we come before God with holy things while we are living in sin, we need not deceive ourselves, we shall not be accepted. We have our imperfections, therefore we must also offer our service with frankincense, as we also see in this chapter. This is to remind us that the sweet savor of our sacrifice is only provided through the intercession of Christ. Thus, no service is pleasing to God apart from the Covenant of Salt. Yet, we must always remember that we must have clean hands and a pure heart if the Lord is to accept our sacrifice. (Psa. 24:3, 4; Rom. 12:1, 2; Heb. 12:14)
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