The eighteenth passage of the Sefer Yeshua is based primarily on Lk 14:34-35, but it is very similar to Mt 5:13-14 and Mk 9:50a. The Lucan version is used in the Sefer Yeshua, while the Matthean version is used in the Scroll of the Preaching (which is my reconstruction of the Q-gospel). The verse in Mark is very short (equal to SY 18:2 below), so the longer version, upon which Luke and Matthew are based, may have come from the Q-gospel.
18. 1There was a certain man who was vain and exalted himself, and exclaimed with pride that he worked for the kingdom of God, comparing himself to salt.
2But Yeshua cautioned him and said, ‘Salt is good, but if the salt’s lost its usefulness, how will its usefulness be restored? 3Then it’s not fit for anything – neither the soil nor the dung heap – and people throw it away and trample it underfoot.
4If you have ears to hear, then hear!’
Overview
In modern usage, if you call someone ‘the salt of the earth’, it means that they are ‘one of the people’, someone who is an ordinary, down-to-earth person, unpretentious, hardworking and reliable. I think we have Chaucer’s ‘Summoner’s Tale’ (written in 1386) to thank for this meaning and usage. Even though he took the phrase from the New Testament, he used it in quite a different manner to what Yeshua himself intended it to mean. If we are to understand the metaphor that Yeshua was trying to convey, we have to leave aside modern and non-Jewish references, and instead look at what salt meant in ancient Jewish culture.
Salt was a valuable commodity in the ancient world. Even the ancients realised its importance for life (Sir 39:26). It was used to preserve food, and it had various uses in industry, such as the tanning of leather. At one time, Roman soldiers were paid in salt, which is where the word ‘salary’ comes from.
As a food additive, salt exists to bring out the flavour of what it is added to, not to bring attention to itself. If too much salt is used, it spoils the food. You cannot re-use culinary salt once it has served its purpose.
In The Exhortations, there are 2 versions of this pericope. The one in the Sefer Yeshua is based on the version in Luke, but the one in the Scroll of the Preaching is based on the version in Matthew:
You are the salt of the Land,
but if salt becomes useless,
how will you salt it again?
Then it’s not fit for anything,
except to be thrown away
and trampled underfoot.
(Scroll of the Preaching, 73:1-2; cf Mt 5:13-14)
Most Christian translations have, ‘You are the salt of the earth’, but once you realise the Jewish symbolism of salt, you will realise it should be, ‘You are the salt of the Land’ – that is, the Land of Israel.
The Symbolism of Salt in Jewish culture
The most obvious use of salt is universal – to bring out the flavour of food, as well as to preserve it. Now let’s look at what salt was used for in Jewish culture. It was used to sanctify and purify sacrifices, and it was also a symbol of God’s Covenant with Israel. It was even used in the tanning process of leather.
In a Jewish context at its most basic, ‘to act as salt’ would be, ‘to bring out the best in others’ – to act as a kind of catalyst which draws out faithfulness to God and to God’s ethical ways. It also implies someone who encourages others to faithfulness. Someone who is ‘the salt of the Land’ is someone who encourages their fellow Jews to remain faithful to YHVH and to YHVH’s teachings in Torah, by their own faithfulness and actions.
Because of its ability to preserve food, salt is also what sanctifies – it was put on certain sacrifices in order to sanctify the offering (Lev 2:13, Ezek 43:24), and was added to incense to sanctify it (Ex 30:35). It was used as a metaphor for something trustworthy and dependable (Num 18:19). Someone who acts like salt is someone whose words, deeds and general demeanour sanctify Israel, and together with the pious actions of others, they help to keep Israel holy to YHVH.
The other point is that, in bringing out the savour of what it is added to, it is not meant to be the main point of the meal. Similarly, in this passage, the man proclaimed with pride how he was like salt, as if he himself was the central point and purpose of the Kingdom of God. Yeshua’s subsequent words were intended to cause a prideful person to take a more realistic look at himself. If this prideful person was the salt of the Land, then what happens if salt loses its usefulness?
How can salt lose its flavour / savour?
A more succinct question to ask would be: How can salt possibly even lose its saltiness or savour in the first place?
The Greek verb employed in this instance, mórainó, means, ‘to become tainted’, and so, ‘to become useless’. In turn, the verb comes from mōrós, which means ‘dull’, ‘weak’, ‘lacking taste’. It can also mean ‘foolish’. Hebrew and Jewish Aramaic have a word with a very similar meaning, tafeil, which means ‘tasteless’ or ‘useless’, and by extension, ‘foolish’.
Salt in Israel was usually obtained from the Dead Sea (yam ha-melach ‘the Salt Sea’ as it is called in Hebrew). Salt from this region has impurities in it, such as gypsum and carnallite (which, when dry, is colourless and looks like salt). If not processed properly, these impurities remain – unprocessed Dead Sea salt is inedible. The salt has a strange taste to it – not quite like that of pure salt – and so the tainted salt has to be thrown away. Alternatively, if there are more impurities than there is salt (i.e. sodium chloride), and the salt leaches away, leaving only the solid impurities, then such a compound will have indeed lost its saltiness.
In his book, Historia Naturalis, Pliny the Elder noted that salt imported from the Dead Sea region often lost its saltiness (which meant that all the sodium chloride had leached out, leaving only gypsum and other impurities). Hillyer (in his Dictionary of NT Theology, 3.446) also explains how natural rock salt in the Holy Land can lose its saltiness in this way.
Also, in the tanning process, the salt becomes contaminated by the tanning agents, and therefore cannot be used again. You cannot re-use it for anything – not for food, for sacrifices, or even for tanning. It cannot even be thrown on a compost heap (‘dung heap’), because if you used the salted compost, you would poison any fields you threw the compost on.
Such bad salt is not just useless, it would have a negative effect on whatever it is mixed with. Salted earth poisons crops, so that they cannot grow, and was considered a punishment (cf Jdgs 9:45). A smug, self-satisfied and pretentious person is not only undesirable, but also has a negative effect on those around them. Not only can their own faith not grow, but they hinder the spiritual growth of others.
The man Yeshua is speaking to is proud to compare himself to salt, but he is obviously being self-righteous about it. Such a man is like salt that has become tainted and dull, and his ability to act like salt to others has become weakened by his pride and self-importance. His pride has caused him to lose his spiritual effectiveness; he is a hinderance to his own faith and to that of others.
Foolishness
Symbolically, salt can also represent wisdom (Mishnah, tractate Sotah 9:15). Therefore, a lack of saltiness can represent foolishness. As I mentioned above, the secondary meaning of the words used in various languages to describe tastelessness or uselessness is ‘foolish’.
According to Prov 30:32, a fool is someone who exalts himself, which is fitting in this context. In ancient Hebrew culture, a fool was not someone who was unintelligent, or merely a silly, thoughtless person. A fool was someone who revelled in their wrongdoing, someone who wilfully rejected God’s good ways, lacked common sense and was proud of it. This is the kind of fool that the Book of Proverbs mentions often.
Prov 12:15 says, “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to advice.”
Prov 13:19 says, “A desire realised is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.”
Prov 1:7 says, “The reverent awe of YHVH is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Prov 18:2 says, “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing their personal opinions.”
This particular meaning of ‘foolish’ was probably secondary to what Yeshua was getting at. Nevertheless, it is an important aspect of the Hebrew and Aramaic words for ‘tasteless’ to be aware of, when considering the warning in this saying: ‘If salt becomes foolish, then how can its effectiveness be restored’.
‘Then it’s not fit for anything’
Just like salt that has been contaminated by the process of tanning, and just as unprocessed salt has many impurities, so too, a person’s faith can become contaminated by pride, self-interest and self-importance. Such a person is unable to participate in the process of sanctifying Israel, or help to bring out the faith of others, because they have made their faith all about themselves, and not about what a Follower of the Way can do for the Kingdom of God.
A person whose faith is weakened by self-pride is more likely to become a victim of populist preachers, and of those who take advantage of such people. As a result, they are trampled underfoot by this kind of unscrupulous religious teacher.
Trodden underfoot
Salt that has lost its saltiness, such as the impurity-riddled type mentioned above, which had more inedible impurities than it had salt, could sometimes be used to harden the soil on rooftops. Such ‘saltless salt’ was scattered on roofs, and over time, was trodden down. The gypsum it contains eventually hardens, and helps to prevent leaks.
In ancient Israel, most houses had flat roofs. Due to lack of space and sunlight inside the house, a lot of domestic work was carried out on the roof. Many simple, rural houses had soil on these roofs, and sometimes grass even grew on these roofs. However, they could often leak, so to prevent this, saltless gypsum-waste was scattered on the roofs. As it dried out, and was trodden down underfoot, it would harden. This practice was apparently common in the countryside until the early 20th century in the Holy Land (EP Deatrick in ‘The Biblical Archaeologist’, May 1962, p. 47).
‘Anyone who has ears to hear, let him hear!’ –
In my commentary to passage 11, I explained briefly what this meant (alluding to Dt 29:4). In that context, it was used positively, to say that Yochanan the Immerser had a mind to understand God’s Message.
In this context here however, it appears to be used conversely, as a kind of warning. This seems to have been a common saying of Yeshua during his ministry in the Galilee. He seems to use it as a kind of ‘underlining phrase’, to emphasise what he has just said. It basically means, ‘Pay attention to my words, and understand what I’m telling you!’. It may have been influenced by Isa 6:9-10,
“They indeed hear, but don’t understand,
They indeed see, but don’t grasp.
Dull that people’s mind,
Stop up their ears,
and seal up their eyes,
Lest in seeing with their eyes,
and in hearing with their ears,
they also grasp with their mind,
and so repent and heal themselves.”
The intent of Isaiah’s message was to be completely sarcastic and sardonic: “You might as well shut your eyes and stop up your ears, because you’re not going to listen to or comprehend my warnings – after all, who would want to be saved from destruction?” The subsequent verses imply that the only way the wicked were going to listen was by actually going through the misery of destruction at the hands of the Assyrians.
Yeshua was in a similar situation – there was a similar tribulation coming, and his ministry was a call to repentance. It was therefore important that people ‘hear’ and understand his words, and that they ‘see’ and grasp the meaning of his teaching.
Pastoral application
Just as salt is important to life, so the ethical ways of YHVH are important to the spiritual life and wellbeing of the human race. The field of religion is supposed to become a better quality of concept, and the world a better spiritual place, for the existence of faithful followers of YHVH within it.
In the NT Gospel of Matthew, the evangelist has two sayings which are related and deliberately follow each other: ‘You are the salt of the earth’, and ‘You are the light of the world’.
To be a light for the world, is to act in such a way as your outlook and behaviour draw others to God. So also acting as salt, brings out the best in others. In Yeshua’s time, he expected his followers to live their lives in such a way that their words and actions would encourage others to live better lives, and return to God’s ways.
As Followers of the Way, we have a responsibility to be like salt and light. In the way we live our lives, in the words we say, in the things we do, we should cause others to think positively about acting in a similar way. We should resist going along with the crowd, and merely behaving in the same way as others. Going against the grain is often very difficult, and will bring taunts and criticism. But ultimately it makes people think. It challenges others to realise that there is another way, that there is a better way of doing things. This is how we sow the seeds of the Kingdom in others’ hearts and minds.
So be as salt to the peoples of the earth, and as a light for the nations of the world.