If you will read the chapter through you will note that other things were needed in connection with the sacrifices of the Israelites. Their sacrifices were of course imperfect. Even on the low ground which they occupied as emblems they were not complete; for you read, in the first place, that they needed frankincense; God did not smell sweet savour in the bullock, or the ram, or the lamb, unless sweet spices were added. What does that teach us but that the best performances of our hands must not appear before His throne without the merit of Christ mingled therewith? Another thing that was enjoined constantly was that they should bring oil; and oil is ever the type of the blessed Spirit of God. What is the use of a sermon if there is no unction in it? What is prayer without the anointing that cometh of the Holy Spirit? What is praise unless the Spirit of God be in it to give it life, that it may rise to heaven? That which goes to God must first come from God. Then came a third requisite, namely, salt. If you read the preceding verses you will see that the Lord forbids them to present any honey. “No meat-offering, which ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire. As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.” Ripe fruits were full of honey, full of sweetness; and God does not ask for sweetness, He asks for salt.
I. It appears, then, that salt was the symbol of the covenant. When God made a covenant with David, it is written, “The Lord gave the kingdom to David for ever by a covenant of salt”--by which was meant that it was an unchangeable, incorruptible covenant, which would endure as salt makes a thing to endure, so that it is not liable to putrefy or corrupt. “The salt of the covenant” signifies that, whenever you and I are bringing any offering to theLord, we must take care that we remember the covenant.
1. We want this salt of the covenant in all that we do, in the first place, to preserve us from falling into legality. He that serves God for wages forgets the word--“The gift of God is eternal life.” If you forget that you are under a covenant of pure grace, in which God gives to the unworthy, and saves those who have no claim to covenant blessing, you will get on legal ground; and, once on leg d ground, God cannot accept your sacrifice.
2. The covenant is to be remembered also that it may excite gratitude. Whenever I think of God entering into covenant that He will not depart from me, and that I shall never depart from Him, my love to Him overflows. Nothing constrains me to such activity and such zeal in the cause of God as a sense of covenant love. Standing on covenant ground we feel consecrated to the noblest ends.
3. This tends to arouse our devotion to God. When we remember that God has entered into covenant with us, then we do not do our work for Him in a cold, dead way; neither do we perform it after a nominal sort; for we say, “I am one of God’s covenanted ones.”
II. But, secondly, salt is the token of communion. In the East, especially, it is the token of fellowship. When an Oriental has once eaten a man’s salt, he will do him no harm. Whenever you are attempting to serve God, take care that you do it in the spirit of fellowship with God.
III. But salt is the emblem of sincerity. “With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” There must be an intense sincerity about all we do towards God.
IV. Lastly, salt is the type of purifying power; and with all our sacrifices we have need to bring a great deal of this salt. The salt eats into the meat; it drives away corruption; it preserves it. If we come before God with holy things while we are living in sin we need not deceive ourselves, we shall not be accepted. If there be any man, of whom it can be said that he is a saint abroad and a devil at home, God will estimate him at what he is at home, and not at what he is abroad. He may lay the sacrifice upon the altar, but if it is brought there with foul hands and an unholy heart, God will bare nothing to do with it. “Without holiness no man can see the Lord,” and, certainly, without holiness can no man serve the Lord. We have our imperfections; but known and wilful sin God’s people will not indulge. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
“Salt of the covenant”
Eating salt together is in the East a pledge of amity and friendship. Hence the “covenant of salt” was an indissoluble pact; and “salted with the salt of the palace” (Ezr_4:14) meant not maintenance, but the sign of faithfulness to the king. Salt was used in the sacrifices and offerings of the Israelites, probably with the same idea of honour and fidelity. (G. Deane.)
Salt to be included in all offerings
This salt indicates corruption removed and prevented; and in the case of the meat-offering, it is as if to say, “Thy body and thy substance are become healthy now”; they shall not rot. They are not like those of the ungodly in Jam_5:2, “Your riches are corrupted.” There is a blessing on thy body and thy estate. And next it intimates the friendship (of which salt was a well-known emblem) now existing between God and the man. God can sup with man, and man with God (Rev_3:18). There is a covenant between him and God, even in regard to the beasts of the field (Job_5:23), and fowls of heaven (Hos_2:18). The friendship of God extends to His people’s property; and to assure us of this He appoints the salt in the meat-offering, the offering that especially typified their substance. How comforting to labouring men! how cheering to careworn merchants if they dedicate themselves to God; He is interested in their property as much as they themselves are! “Who is a God like unto Thee!” But more; “with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt,” declared that the sweet savour of these sacrifices was not momentary and passing, but enduring and eternal. By this declaration He sprinkles every sacrifice with the salt of His unchanging satisfaction. And “the covenant by sacrifice” (Psa_50:5) is thus confirmed on the part of God; He declares that He on His part will be faithful. (A. A. Bonar.)
