The gray sky looks like it wants to release its storm and I’m sitting at my computer thinking about fixing fish for supper. Lately, I’ve had to cut down on my salt intake, and it’s made me think about the value of salt – historically. Knowing what salt (too much or too little) can do to any living thing made me think of the expression “salt of the earth” and I wondered why we all accept being referred to as “the salt of the earth” as a good thing.
It’s raining and I have a question – can Google be far behind?
What I found out is that the expression is Biblical in origin and comes from Matthew 5:13 (Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount) from the King James Bible of 1611. It states: “Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
Historically, what is the significance of salt? Well, it has long been one of men’s most prized commodities. Salt was used not only to flavor food, but to preserve it. Roman soldiers were given an allowance to buy salt – this is where today’s “salary” comes from. This also explains someone is “worth his salt,” meaning he is a capable individual. If you ate salt with someone, you accepted the host’s hospitality and were obligated to look after his best interests. Salt was used to purify things, and the Bible also refers to a covenant of salt as one being holy and perpetual. In ancient times, newborns were rubbed with salt to ward away evil spirits. In Biblical times, the Jews got most of their salt from Mount Sodom, a ridge of limestone and rock salt at the southwest corner of the Dead Sea, which was mined, and literally, was the salt of the earth. Salt meant life in so many ways. So being referred to as being the “salt of the earth” in Biblical times was indeed a great complement – and today that is no different.
Still, when Roy and I lived on the coast, the salt left on the earth of our yard after a saltwater inundation killed everything growing. It got the grass and killed my lemon tree. The hardy oleanders next door gave up the ghost. But when it rained, I considered what was happening. Yes, the old grass died, but new grass started showing up green in a few days – and I guess it happened all over the marshes. Visiting waterfowl needed new grasses to live. The oysters that died in our boat slip that year due to too much fresh water again started spitting out water and purifying the river – and they can’t live without salt water.
Then, there is the promise to open the mouth of the San Bernard River again. Which, when the river is again open, will allow saltwater mixing with fresh water in the bays and the river – as it should be. Maybe, for those of us who revere the river and its life, that constitutes our own personal covenant of salt.
And I think about all the people who have walked down the path of the process of re-opening the mouth of the San Bernard River together. Whether they are citizens, or governmental entities, they have proved to be good, decent, hardworking, dependable people whom we can proudly refer to as our “salt of the earth.”
Note: The mouth of the San Bernard River silted closed due to the influence of the relocated mouth of the Brazos. A group of individuals worked to dredge open the mouth of the San Bernard River and that was accomplished in February of 2009. The river is again occluded, and a second dredging is in the works. Salt – important to life in so many ways.
