In our society today, the history of salt is not well known. We may have heard expressions like "don't spill the salt" or wondered about the superstition of throwing salt over our shoulder but how many of us know where these notions originated?
 
   Most of us are only familiar with the type of salt that we use on our food. But, in order to understand more completely the scriptures that make reference to salt, it is important to understand that the Jews distinguished between two very different types of salt: rock-salt and the "salt of Sodom." 
 
   Rock salt, the type of salt we are familiar with today, was very valuable to the Hebrews. It was a symbol of lasting treaty because it protected food from putrefaction and preserved it unchanged. Likewise, if we are the salt of the earth, our witness effectively protects others from spiritual decay and preserves their life. 
 
   As indispensable as salt is to us, it was even more so to the Hebrews. As one of the most essential articles of diet, rock-salt symbolized hospitality; to eat salt with someone was to partake of their generosity, to derive subsistence from them. As an antiseptic, salt represented durability, fidelity and purity. The Hebrews even made salt covenants. A "covenant of salt" was a promise of perpetual obligation. New-born children were actually rubbed with salt. Disciples are likened unto salt, with reference to its cleansing and preserving uses.
 
   But the salt of Sodom refers to a different type of salt that is literally petroleum or its residue, asphalt. This type of salt loses its essence by exposure, unlike rock salt, and becomes hardened when the fundamental part of the salt evaporates, leaving only a remnant of stone.
 
   Pretty interesting, huh? Especially when we think about Lot's wife. (I wonder what her name was anyway.)  We've all heard the story of her eventual doom and how she turned into a pillar of salt. As Lot's wife looked back at the worldly friends and possessions that she left behind in Sodom, she turned into a pillar, or monument, of salt. She became a virtual reminder of what would happen to future generations who dared disobey. That's definitely some bad salt.
 
   When we consider Lot's wife and her fate, we can gain significant spiritual understanding of what happened to her and what can happen to us as well when we look back. Like Lot's wife, when we look back, we too lose our essence by exposure to the world. Essence actually means spirit. We lose our spirit by exposure to the world. Our stony hearts become unable to enjoy or utilize the normal benefits of salt. We lose our flavor, our hospitality, and healing virtues.  Our once pure hearts are contaminated. 

 

   Metaphorically speaking, when we look back, our heart is hardened, and set in concrete. Our heart is no longer preserved. We have no protection from spiritual infection. 
  
   Make sure this doesn't happen to you. Your heart needs to have plenty of the good salt-salt that preserves and protects and cannot evaporate. You are to be the salt of the earth, flavoring the world with the hope and peace that Jesus gave to you and nourishing others with His words of truth. So next time you sit down for a meal, don't forget...pass the salt please!