Leviticus 2:13

13 You are to season each of your grain offerings with salt; you must not omit from your grain offering the salt of the covenant^[a] with your God. You are to present salt^[b] with each of your offerings.

Leviticus 2:13 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 2:13

And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season
with salt
Which makes food savoury, and preserves from putrefaction; denoting the savouriness and acceptableness of Christ as a meat offering to his people, he being savoury food, such as their souls love, as well as to God the Father, who is well pleased with his sacrifice; and also the perpetuity of his sacrifice, which always has the same virtue in it, and of him as a meat offering, who is that meat which endures to everlasting life, ( John 6:27 ) and also the grave and gracious conversation of those that by faith feed upon him, ( Mark 9:50 ) ( Colossians 4:6 )

neither shall thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be
lacking from thy meat offering;
this seems to suggest the reason why salt was used in meat offerings, and in all others, because it was a symbol of the perpetuity of the covenant, which from thence is called a covenant of salt, ( Numbers 18:19 ) namely, the covenant of the priesthood, to which these sacrifices belonged, ( Numbers 25:13 ) hence the Targum of Jonathan,

``because the twenty four gifts of the priests are decreed by the covenant of salt, therefore upon all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt:''

with all thine offerings thou shall offer salt,
even those that were not to be eaten, as well as those that were; as the burnt offering of the herd, of the flock, and of fowls, and their several parts; all were obliged to be salted that were offered, excepting wine, blood, wood, and incense ^F24; hence there was a room in the temple where salt was laid up for this purpose, called (xlm tkvl) , "the salt room" ^F25; and which was provided by the congregation, and not by a private person {z}; our Lord has reference to this law in ( Mark 9:49 ) the Heathens always made use of salt in their sacrifices ^F1.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Maimon. Issure Mizbeach, c. 5. sect. 11.
F25 Misn. Middot, c. 5. sect. 2.
F26 Maimon. Issure Mizbeach, c. 5. sect. 13.
F1 Ante Deos Homini Ovid. Fastor. l. 1. Vid. Horat. Carmin. l. 3. Ode 23.

Leviticus 2:13 In-Context

11 "No grain offering that you present to the Lord is to be made with yeast, for you are not to burn any yeast or honey as a fire offering to the Lord.

12 You may present them to the Lord as an offering of firstfruits, but they are not to be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma.

13 You are to season each of your grain offerings with salt; you must not omit from your grain offering the salt of the covenant with your God. You are to present salt with each of your offerings.

14 "If you present a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you must present fresh heads of grain, crushed kernels, roasted on the fire, for your grain offering of firstfruits.

15 You are to put oil and frankincense on it; it is a grain offering.

Footnotes

• [a]. Nm 18:19; 2 Ch 13:5
• [b]. Salt, used as a preservative, is a symbol of the permanence of the covenant.