About 100 years ago, a company in St. Clair, Michigan, U.S.A., that sold salt advertised its product by issuing a booklet entitled, “One Hundred and One Uses for Diamond Crystal Salt.” Included in its list were functions like keeping the colors bright on boiled vegetables, making ice cream, removing rust, sealing cracks, putting out grease fires, and treating a myriad of human ailments such as dyspepsia, sprains, sore throats and earaches. Today the figure is over 14,000 uses, as the list now includes the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, the melting of ice on roads in winter, making soap, softening water, and making dyes for textiles.
Salt is so common today, and relatively cheap, that we have forgotten that right from the beginning of man’s history in this world, salt was one of the most sought-after commodities. It was not until the twentieth century that salt became readily available and inexpensive. The search for salt challenged engineers for thousands of years. Trade routes were established, alliances formed, empires secured, and revolutions provoked — all because of salt. During those millennia, salt represented wealth. Many governments taxed it to raise money. It was often used for money, and armies were paid in salt. The Latin word sal (salt) became the French word solde (pay), from which came the word soldier and also the expression, “Worth his salt.” Our English words salary and salad are derived from the same root, as the Romans often used salt on vegetable greens.
A Preservative
Salt is mentioned many times in the Word of God, and most of these references are in the Old Testament. Since other articles in this issue of The Christian will take up the typical meaning of many of these references, we will confine ourselves in this article to one aspect of salt that is well-known — its ability to preserve. This has been well recognized throughout history. Man has long known how to preserve meat and some vegetables by packing them in salt. But the Word of God takes up that same function of salt to teach us important lessons. One of these concerns the Salt Sea (otherwise known as the Dead Sea), which came about as a result of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The lesson here is not so much the preserving character of salt, but rather how God has preserved the Salt Sea. It does not seem that the Salt Sea existed before those wicked cities were destroyed. Rather, the area is described as being “well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord” (Gen. 13:1010And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. (Genesis 13:10)). We might be tempted to think lightly of this expression, but let us remember that the phrase “the garden of the Lord” is used in only one other place in the Word of God. It is found in Isaiah 51:33For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. (Isaiah 51:3), where the Spirit of God describes the future blessing of Israel in the millennium. There it says that “the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.” The Spirit of God does not exaggerate in His descriptions, so that we may safely conclude that the area around Sodom and Gomorrah was indeed a beautiful place. Yet when the Lord “rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone [sulfur] and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Gen. 19:2424Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; (Genesis 19:24)), the Lord left that Salt Sea as a solemn reminder to us of the awful judgment that awaits those who go on in wickedness and sin.
Those who have visited the area tell us that there are many minerals in the Salt Sea, and among them sulfur is quite prominent. (The word “salt” in the English language is usually used to refer to sodium chloride, or what we traditionally call “table salt,” but the word actually has a much wider meaning. In chemical terms, a salt is a combination of an acid and a base, so that, for example, baking soda and other compounds are also technically “salts.” However, in the Bible the word “salt” refers to what we call table salt.) The whole area around the Dead Sea is now very arid, and the water that drains into it comes from the Jordan River and other land drainage, with hardly any from rainfall, which is less than 100 mm (4 in.) per year.
Sodom and Gomorrah
The Spirit of God refers to Sodom and Gomorrah many times in the Bible. The two cities are mentioned together 15 times, while Sodom, either by itself or in some other combination, is mentioned another 31 times. If this world needs a serious reminder of God’s judgment, God has certainly provided it in the Dead Sea and in the preserving quality of the salts found in it. The Lord Jesus Himself referred to Sodom and Gomorrah when He condemned some of the cities where His mighty works were done. Even the National Geographic Society, which is not noted for its reverence for the Word of God, was forced to admit some years ago that the Salt Sea possibly did support the Biblical record of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.
In summary, then, we may say that God has left man without excuse. For thousands of years, the Dead Sea has been preserved as a reminder of the judgment on those wicked cities, and God has seen to it that the climate has been altered so that this reminder cannot be easily removed. As we have already mentioned, not only is the area extremely hot and arid, but the Dead Sea is about 430 meters (over 1400 feet) below sea level. For this reason, all of the surrounding area in Israel and Jordan, as well as areas farther away, drain into it. How sad it is to see so many today reacting like the sons-in-law of Lot, who, when they were warned of coming judgment, thought that the messenger was “one that mocked!”
W. J. Prost