Salt.....?

Question

The word "salt" is where our word "salary" comes from. Back in the Roman Rule, the Roman soldier often got paid in salt, as salt, before refrigeration, was a very valuable commodity. Hence, the old saying, "he is not worth his salt". He is not worth his salary that is his wages. He's good for nothing.

2 Chronicles 13:5
"5 Don't you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?"

What does "covenant of salt" mean?

Answer 1

A covenant was a type of contract, it was made for life and if it was broken it cost the life of the one who broke it. Since you know that salt was used as currency, you should also be aware that it was quite important as a preseravative as well. Anyhow, when certain coveneants, like marriages were made and sealed, each of the parties had a bag of salt. Party A would take a pinch of salt out of their bag and Party B would take a pinch of salt out of their bag. then they would exchange pinches of salt, symbolizing their unity.

Answer 2

A covenant is an agreement. A covenant of handshake is simply a deal made and a handshake seals it. A covenant of salt is the same thing. A deal was made, and the deal was sealed by payment of salt.

Answer 3

In Bible times, men understood the meaning of keeping their word with each other at all costs and this was called “the covenant of salt”. Men wore a pouch of salt tied to their belt and when they made covenant, they would each exchange a pinch of salt, putting their grains of salt into the other’s pouch and vice versa. If a man would try to break his covenant, then the other would say “Yes, if you can retrieve your grains and yours only from my pouch of salt”.

http://www.eaglesaint.net/articles/covenantsalt.htm

Answer 4

In the middle east, salt was VERY VERY valuable (it was used for preservation), and was traded POUND FOR POUND with gold. A covenant of salt was a promise of salt, where one person gave a gift of salt to someone else.

To the person above me, who told you that little fairy tale?

Answer 5

You got me. You might try looking it up in the modern language bible. I can't remember exactly what it's called, but it is a modern day translation of the original text, agreed upon by several christian denominations before it was ever published. good luck. when in doubt, ask your priest, minister, preacher, ect.

Answer 6

covenant means pact or agreement.......I think that maybe it was an agreement with David that all will be taken care of if they lived decent lives......