Leviticus 2:13

13 Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt; neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

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.


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 meal offering, which you shall offer to the LORD, shall be made with yeast; for you shall burn no yeast, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to the LORD.
12 As an offering of firstfruits you shall offer them to the LORD: but they shall not come up for a sweet savor on the altar.
13 Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt; neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.
14 "'If you offer a meal offering of first fruits to the LORD, you shall offer for the meal offering of your first fruits grain in the ear parched with fire, bruised grain of the fresh ear.
15 You shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it: it is a meal offering.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.