“Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.” (Ezra 7:22)
Artaxerxes the king in Babylon, permits Ezra to go to Jerusalem to teach the Law to the captives who are returning to Jerusalem. He allows Ezra to take silver and gold to buy what is needed to repair the temple and whatever he needs for the sacrifices.
In Ezra 7:22 the king puts a limit on the amount of silver, wheat, wine and oil Ezra may take. But he puts no limit on how much salt he can take. Salt was very important in those days. It was used as a preservative. Salt was also important in the offerings to the Lord and was to be used in every meat offering made to the Lord. “And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” (Leviticus 2:13) Salt also became symbolic for an everlasting covenant since sacrificial meals were made at that time. “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.” (Numbers 18:19) Salt was so important it became a common way to mean having a meal together and becoming friends, a kind of covenant of salt. And in Arabic the expressions “There is salt between us” and “He has eaten of my salt” became common expressions to indicate a friendship formed.
Jesus used salt symbolically for the believer. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Matthew 5:13) We’ve been taught that salt refers to the preservative nature of the believer, that we bring a good flavor to life and others by the Holy Spirit abiding in us and the Word of God in our mouths. “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:6) Salt refers to the grace in our speech. Biblical grace is defined as the unmerited or undeserved favor of God toward man. So, it follows that our speech to the world should be spiced with God’s undeserved favor or in other words the Good News or the Gospel. If the Word of God is not on our lips we are salt without flavor and good for nothing. (Matthew 5:13)
Let’s get to the nitty-gritty of our lives. Were you cheated at the market? Did another driver cut you off? Were you slighted and ignored over others? Was there false gossip about you? Was your child unfairly accused? What was your speech when these things happened? Was your speech salted with the Gospel Truth? Even if we use no foul language, the words of our mouths which are not Gospel, are corrupt because they don’t minister grace, God’s undeserved favor to those who hear us. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:29-32)
Artaxerxes the king gave Ezra salt without measure. We have been given grace without measure. We are to use that grace to salt the earth with our words and with our actions in every circumstance. I know it’s a hard thing. Our flesh just rises up to any occasion when we feel we’ve been slighted or cheated and feel justified in acting and speaking in an unsalted manner. But speak the Word of God. Make that sacrifice of praise, remember the covenant we have with our Lord and salt the words with the Word of God. It brings God’s undeserved favor into the situation, to the hearer and to ourselves.
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