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Salt

Smith's Bible Dictionary

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Salt
Scofield Reference Index
• Salt
Thompson Chain Reference
• Salt, the
• Salt, Christians As, the
• Salt
The Topic Concordance
• Salt
Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
• Salt
• Dead or Salt Sea?
Torrey Topical Textbook
• Salt
Dictionaries
American Tract Society
• Salt
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
• Salt
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Salt, Valley of
• Salt, the City of
• Salt Sea
•   (only first 3 shown)
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Sea, the Salt
• Salt, Valley of
• Salt, City of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Salt, Valley of
• Salt, Covenant of
• Salt, City of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Salt, Valley of
• Salt, City of
• Salt Sea
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Salt (2)
• Salt
King James Dictionary
• Saltness
• Salted
• Salt
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Salt, Valley of
• Salt, City of
• Salt Sea
•   (only first 3 shown)
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Salt, Robert, Blessed
• Salt, Liturgical Use of
• Salt of the Earth
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hawker's Poor Man's Dictionary
• Salt
People's Bible Dictionary
• Sea the Salt
• Salt Valley of
• Salt (2)
•   (only first 3 shown)
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Sea The Salt
• Salt The Valley of
• Salt The City of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• Salt, Saltness
Wilson's Bible Types
• Salt
Webster Dictionary
• Smelling Salts
• Sea Salt
• Saltness
•   (only first 3 shown)
Watson's Theological Dictionary
• Salt
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Abraum Salts
• Epsom Salts
• George Salting
•   (only first 3 shown)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• City of Salt
• Covenant of Salt
• Pillar of Salt
•   (only first 3 shown)
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Salt
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• City of Salt
• Covenant of Salt
• Pillar of Salt
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Attic Salt
• Great Salt Lake
• Salt Lake City
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Diocese of Salt Lake
• Salt
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Salt
• Salt Lake City
• Salt Sea
Lexicons
• ܡܠܰܚ
• ܡܰܠܳܚܶܐ
• ἅλα , ἅλας
• ἁλίζω
• ἅλς
•   (only first 3 shown)
• חָמִיץ
• מָלַח , מָלַח
• מְלַח
•   (only first 3 shown)

Salt. Indispensable as salt is to ourselves, it was even more so to the Hebrews, being to them, not only an appetizing condiment in the food, both of man, Job 11:6 and beast, Isaiah 30:24, see margin, and a valuable antidote to the effects of the heat of the climate on animal food, but also, entering largely into the religious services of the Jews as an accompaniment to the various offerings presented on the altar. Leviticus 2:13. They possessed an inexhaustible and ready supply of it on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. See Sea, The Salt.

There is one mountain here called Jebel Usdum, seven miles long and several hundred feet high, which is composed almost entirely of salt. The Jews appear to have distinguished between rock-salt, and that which was gained by evaporation, as the Talmudists particularize one species, (probably the latter), as the "salt of Sodom." The salt-pits formed an important source of revenue to the rulers of the country, and Antiochus conferred a valuable boon on Jerusalem by presenting the city with 375 bushels of salt for the Temple service.

As one of the most essential articles of diet, salt symbolized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity and purity. Hence, the expression "covenant of salt," Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5, as betokening an indissoluble alliance between friends; and again the expression "salted with the salt of the palace." Ezra 4:14, not necessarily meaning that they had "maintenance from the palace," as Authorized Version has it, but that they were bound by sacred obligations fidelity to the king. So in the present day, "to eat bread and salt together" is an expression for a league of mutual amity. It was, probably, with a view to keep this idea prominently before the minds of the Jews, that the use of salt was enjoined on the Israelites in their offerings to God.