Salt of the Earth

In the Sermon on the Mount the Savior gave an analogy about the kind of people His disciples are to be.  He said, “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).  He almost certainly was referring to the way salt was used in the Law of Moses.  According to the footnote on this verse, “Salt is a token of the covenant and was part of sacrificial ritual.”  In the law we find this command, “And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt.... with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13).  So salt was included in the offerings of the law, which I think symbolized both a sense of permanence as well as an indication that the very best was being offered.  Salt is both a flavor enhancer as well as a preserver, and I believe we can apply both of these to us.  We are to lift those around us and bring out the best in those we come in contact with in the same way that salt brings out the flavor of foods that would otherwise be bland.  Salt is also used to preserve meats and foods just as we are to keep our covenants and endure to the end; we must “preserve” our devotion to serve God to the end.  Other scriptures speak of a “covenant of salt” that I think again points to the permanence with which the Lord wants us to make covenants and promises with Him (Numbers 18:19, 2 Chronicles 13:5). 

                In our day the Lord again used the analogy of salt when referring to the Saints who were having troubles in Missouri.  He said, “When men are called unto min everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men” (D&C 101:39).  This again seems to touch upon both of these attributes of salt: preservation (“everlasting covenant”) and flavor enhancer (“savor of men”).  Later He said, “Inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing” (D&C 103:9).  I like that idea: we are to be both the saviors of men as well as the savor of men, and this again seems to touch on both of these qualities of salt: being saviors (i.e. saving or preserving the spiritual life of others) and having savor (i.e. enhancing the well-being of those around us).  Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Saints in our dispensation were led to a land with a lake full of salt.  It should stand as a reminder to this teaching of the Savior that we are to be “the salt of the earth,” or, in the words of a modern dictionary, “the best or noblest elements of society.”