11.1.24 ~ Live Salty In Our Committed Relationships

 Good morning!

Happy preparation day! Today is also my last workday in KC, before I head back to Stanton, Michigan on Sunday morning. Prayers appreciated for successful work, a great shabbat and travels :-)

As with many topics in Scripture, we, speaking of me, myself and I, tend to become very myopic in our views. Too often we adopt the traditional denominational view, our favorite pastor, or those of our parents and/or the environment we grew up in. With the topic of 'salt' and 'covenant' it's no different. This morning, I'd like to continue expanding our view of the salt covenant and some applications. Why? Because enquiring minds want to know :-)

Like the 'infomercials' there is always more!  In Ezekiel 16:6 we see that Israel was not born with a right to be God’s child.  When they were born their cord was not cut, they were not washed with water, rubbed with salt, or wrapped in clothes.  Nope! God took them and made them His.  The context here is that Israel was still living like her parents, still connected to the mindset of the Hittites and the Amorites; in full idolatry mode.  They were still tied by an umbilical cord to their mother.  In other words, their behavior hadn’t changed!  Israel was still acting like her parents.  And if her umbilical cord was not cut, she would die when the placenta started discharging from the womb after birth. This, my hungry and thirsty friends, is not a good situation!

Again we discover that salt carries the idea of worshiping the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through Israel trusting their God by cutting her ties to her idolatrous parents/past.  Israel needed to make a covenant of salt with their God to follow Him and worship Him alone.

The next two places where salt is used are also very insightful.  One of my favorites is in 2 Kings 2:20,21 where salt was used to heal a body of water so it could be drinkable.  Now think about this for a second.  When salt is added to water, one gets salt water, not fresh.  You might use salt water to gargle, but certainly not to drink.  Now imagine what was going through the minds of those watching Elisha throw salt into their putrid water hole.

'Elisha, hold on!  You’re going to make the situation even worse!  Are you sure the Lord said to do this?  It doesn’t make sense, Elisha.  Why would you waste valuable salt by throwing it into an already bad source of water?  You’re just throwing it away!'

Why would Elisha do it?  Trust.  After Elisha threw the salt into the water, it became wholesome and produced an environment where the trees would not miscarry their fruit.  How would the people know it was good to drink?  They would have to trust their God enough to dip their hand into the water and draw it to their lips.  Pouring salt must have seemed like a crazy thing to do to them.  But when it comes to walking with our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Acts 3:13; 7:32), isn’t this what it takes – going against the way we think to do what He tells us to do? Trust!

This is the same idea behind Job 6:6 when Job makes the point that salt is added to tasteless food to make it worth eating.  Again, isn’t this just like our God to make something tasty out of two things that don’t belong together?  The question I ask myself is, Will I trust Him?

Let's look at the not so obvious action...didn’t it take trust to give up the salt in the first place?  Where did the salt for the sacrifices come from?  The incense?  The healing of the water?  It came from the people of God, the Israelites.  Look at it from their point of view.  Salt contained the very elements necessary for their survival. It was said, 'whoever controls the salt, controls the world.'

During the time of the TaNaKh (writing of the Torah, Prophets and Writings) aka the Old Testament, Israel was primarily an agricultural society.  They worked out in the sun for a living, which brought on a good sweat.  Because of this, they would need to replenish their bodies with the 12 different category of salts.  These elements are involved in everything you do from nerve impulse conduction to muscle contraction.  If these three elements get out of balance in your system, you’re not going to have a good day.

Now, here comes your God telling you that you must give Him some of your salt.  Would you trust Him?  Would you give your precious salt to Elisha to throw in your bad spring?  Would you trust your God and add salt to all your sacrifices? Would you use salt in your twice daily tamid offerings? Your marriage? Your business? Your...This is why I believe God put the last usage of “covenant of salt” with the House of David; the promise of one sitting on the throne.  It ties the two ideas of salt and covenant together.

The world can get along without pepper, and other spices, but it cannot get along without salt, especially when it comes to covenants (2 Chron. 13:5).  Treaties were sealed in salt.  Covenants were based upon trust.  Giving someone your salt was a sign of that trust.  In 2 Chronicles 13:5 God was making a treaty with David to have his children sit on his throne forever, no matter how good or bad they were! Wow! What a commitment!

So when we put the words “covenant” and “salt” back together, it stands for the idea of two parties making and keeping an agreement with each other based upon trust.  The word “salt” gives us the truth that we should trust our God enough to live with and for Him in our everyday lives.  In the everyday decisions we encounter, we are to sacrifice our way of living and thinking and trust His Word.

On this preparation day, I pray we'll all live salty in our committed relationships!

Shalom!