According to Dictionary.com, salt of the earth means “an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society.”
John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible explained this biblical phrase as the following:
“You are the salt of the earth”
This is to be understood of the disciples and apostles of Christ; who might be compared to “salt”, because of the savory doctrines they preached; as all such are, which are agreeable to the Scriptures, and are of the evangelic kind, which is full of Christ, serve to exalt him, and to magnify the grace of God; and are suitable to the experiences of the saints, and are according to godliness, and tend to promote it: also because of their savory lives and conversations; whereby they recommended and gave sanction to the doctrines they preached, were examples to the saints, and checks upon wicked men. These were the salt “of the earth”; that is, of the inhabitants of the earth, not of the land of Judea only, where they first lived and preached, but of the whole world, into which they were afterward sent to preach the Gospel.
churchgist will give you all you want in salt verses in the bible, Matthew 5 – Salt and Light and so much more.
Matthew 5 – Salt and Light
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16
Bible Verses aboutSalt
Matthew 5:13 ESV / 332 helpful votes
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
Colossians 4:6 ESV / 254 helpful votes
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Mark 9:50 ESV / 251 helpful votes
Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Matthew 5:13-16 ESV / 201 helpful votes
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Leviticus 2:13 ESV / 193 helpful votes
You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
Luke 14:34-35 ESV / 150 helpful votes
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Mark 9:49 ESV / 149 helpful votes
For everyone will be salted with fire.
Numbers 18:19 ESV / 145 helpful votes
All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.”
Genesis 19:26 ESV / 136 helpful votes
But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
2 Kings 2:20-22 ESV / 135 helpful votes
He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
2 Chronicles 13:5 ESV / 117 helpful votes
Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?
Luke 14:34 ESV / 108 helpful votes
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
Ezekiel 43:24 ESV / 103 helpful votes
You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.
2 Kings 2:21 ESV / 97 helpful votes
Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”
Ezra 6:9 ESV / 90 helpful votes
And whatever is needed—bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail,
Job 6:6 ESV / 89 helpful votes
Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?
Mark 9:49-50 ESV / 88 helpful votes
For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Ezekiel 16:4 ESV / 86 helpful votes
And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.
Zephaniah 2:9 ESV / 70 helpful votes
Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a waste forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
2 Kings 2:20 ESV / 66 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
A covenant of salt in the Bible
The term covenant of salt is found three times in the Old Testament:
First occurrence
Leviticus 2:13 `And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.'[NKJV]
Notice here that the offerings were to be seasoned with salt, which is identified as the salt of the covenant.
Second occurrence
Numbers 18:19 “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD with you and your descendants with you.”[NKJV]
This verse is in reference to establishment of the Aaronic Priesthood.
third occurrence
2 Chronicles 13:5 “Should you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?“
This verse is in reference to the establishment of Davidic dynasty.
What does it mean?
One commentator notes that the origin of the phraseology is unknown1, however many reliable sources believe the relevance lies in the functions of salt in a covenant meal.
For example we read:
Covenant of Salt.
Biblical phrase for a two-way agreement, the inviolability of which was symbolized by salt. A Middle Eastern saying, “There is bread and salt between us,” meant that a relationship had been confirmed by sharing a meal. Salt symbolized the life and enduring nature of the alliance. In the OT salt appears in the relationship between God and Israel (Lv 2:13). As a purifying agent and preservative in the cereal offering, salt symbolized the indissoluble nature of the covenant between God and Israel. [Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (p. 538). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.]
Covenant of salt
As salt was regarded as a necessary ingredient of the daily food, and so of all sacrifices offered to Yahweh (Lev 2:13), it became an easy step to the very close connection between salt and covenant-making. When men ate together they became friends. Cf. the Arabic expressions, “There is salt between us”; “He has eaten of my salt,” which means partaking of hospitality which cemented friendship; cf. “eat the salt of the palace” (Ezra 4:14). Covenants were generally confirmed by sacrificial meals and salt was always present. Since, too, salt is a preservative, it would easily become symbolic of an enduring covenant. So offerings to Yahweh were to be by a statute forever, “a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord” (Num 18:19). David received his kingdom for-ever from the Lord by a “covenant of salt” (2 Chron 13:5). In the light of these conceptions the remark of Our Lord becomes the more significant: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another
