Crystal Writes A Blog

Sweet and Salty

Salt Dough Heart by Flickr User Elin B, CC License = Attribution
Click image to open new tab/window to view original image and to access user’s full photo stream at Flickr.

Which flavor do you think God likes the most? Do you suppose He likes sweet things because He made so many fruit trees? Or do you suppose He likes salt the best because He called us the salt of the Earth? He also made sweet vegetables, sugar cane, stevia, and bees that make honey. Then again, the oceans are filled with salt, and many chemical elements (such as phosphorus) are types of salt. Salts are also necessary for many of our bodily functions, but I’m not certain how necessary sugars are for us to keep living. When you break down all the different properties of salts, it gives a new meaning to God’s children being salt of the earth and the urgency to not lose our saltiness.

In today’s reading from Leviticus 2:7 through Leviticus 2:16 (the end of the chapter), we have a few more details on the grain offering. We already know the grain is to be offered without any type of leavening agents, but today, we learn that every grain offering is to be seasoned with salt. So far, there is no reason given, but I wonder if it is to make sure the priests eat enough salt to retain water for life in the desert–especially a life that requires the amount of labor the priests were required to perform.

The other thing we learn today is that no offering should be given with any honey put on it. Leavening and honey are never to be sent up in smoke to Yahveh. I’d have to do an experiment or talk to a scientist to find out if there is a chemical reason for that, like maybe that honey would coat the nostrils of those breathing the smoke and somehow harm them, but my mind takes this in another direction. I’m thinking that since leaven represents pride, honey might represent a false sweetness. In Proverbs, we read about the adulterous woman whose lips drip with honey, but her feet go down to death and Hell.

If what I’m thinking is at least part of God’s reasoning for wanting an offering to be given with salt and not honey, then I imagine that means He is pleased when we come before Him with tears more than with eloquent words of praise. Could it be that He make our tears salty instead of sweet for this reason?

March 3, 2014 - Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adonai, Almighty, Bible, Bible Gateway, Bible reading, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, Creator, crystalwriter, God, grain offering, Holy Bible, Israel, leaven, Leviticus, Lord, offering, Old Covenant, Old Testament, Parashah, Portions, pride, salty, Scripture, sweet, sweet and salty, The Complete Jewish Bible, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, www.biblegateway.com, Yahveh, Yahweh