Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt - Salt was the opposite to leaven, for it preserved from putrefaction and corruption, and signified the purity and persevering fidelity that were necessary in the worship of God. Every thing was seasoned with it, to signify the purity and perfection that should be extended through every part of the Divine service, and through the hearts and lives of God's worshippers. It was called the salt of the covenant of God, because as salt is incorruptible, so was the covenant made with Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and the patriarchs, relative to the redemption of the world by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ. Among the heathens salt was a common ingredient in all their sacrificial offerings; and as it was considered essential to the comfort and preservation of life, and an emblem of the most perfect corporeal and mental endowments, so it was supposed to be one of the most acceptable presents they could make unto their gods, from whose sacrifices it was never absent. That inimitable and invaluable writer, Pliny, has left a long chapter on this subject, the seventh of the thirty-first book of his Natural History, a few extracts from which will not displease the intelligent reader. Ergo, hercule, vita humanior sine Sale nequit degere: adeoque necessarium elementum est, ut transierit intellectus ad voluptates animi quoque. Nam ita Sales appellantur omnisque vitae lepos et summa hilaritas, laborumque requies non alio magis vocabulo constat. Honoribus etiam militiaeque inter ponitur, Salariis inde dictis - Maxime tamen in sacris intelligitur auctoritas, quando nulla conficiuntur sine mola salsa. "So essentially necessary is salt that without it human life cannot be preserved: and even the pleasures and endowments of the mind are expressed by it; the delights of life, repose, and the highest mental serenity, are expressed by no other term than sales among the Latins. It has also been applied to designate the honorable rewards given to soldiers, which are called salarii or salaries. But its importance may be farther understood by its use in sacred things, as no sacrifice was offered to the gods without the salt cake." So Virgil, Eclog. viii., ver. 82: Sparge molam. "Crumble the sacred mole of salt and corn." And again, Aeneid., lib. iv., ver. 517: - Ipsa mola, manibitsque piis, altaria juxta. "Now with the sacred cake, and lifted hands, All bent on death, before her altar stands." Pitt. In like manner Homer: - Πασσε δ' ἁλος θειοιο, κρατευταων επαειπας. Iliad, lib. ix., ver. 214. "And taking sacred salt from the hearth side, Where it was treasured, pour'd it o'er the feast." Cowper. Quotations of this kind might be easily multiplied, but the above may be deemed sufficient.