Leviticus 2: 13

“And for the oblation of thy meat offering shall thou season with salt: neither shall thou suffer salt of the covenant of thy God be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thy offerings thou shall offer salt”

This command contrasts with the command given in verse 11 where the Israelites are commanded not to offer leaven and honey in any grain offering offered to God by fire. Let us examine what leaven and honey does in grain doe.

Leaven speeds up the fermentation process in grain doe causing it to rise and become spongy, as a result of which the pastry when baked is more palatable to man. The process is one that denatures (corrupts) and inflates the offering.

The pastry, made out of corn or wheat is used symbolically in the bible to indicate the lifestyle of man, thus the showbread in the Holy Place, sainted with perfume symbolizes a lifestyle that could continually abide in God’s presence, continuously surrounded by the light of the revelation of God; a lifestyle lived to please God; a lifestyle of worship.

Thus, bread offered with leaven would symbolize a corrupt or at best modified lifestyle, modified to suit mans tastes, amplified and elevated in human perception to glorious proportions but carries little weight with God; a lifestyle aimed at pleasing and impressing men but has little true value in the direction it claims to be directed; a lifestyle of pride and false piety.

Honey was the universal sweetener of ancient times; wherever we use sugar today, they used honey. But honey then as today come from bees. Hornets, as they and other fling, stinging, territorial insects where called symbolizes terror or the grip of terror. The sting and the honey of bees are, in essence, opposite sides of the same insect; what could be as painful as the sting of a bee? And what could be as sweet as its honey? The honey is in essence the intense pleasure you could derive from approaching the bee – an unpredictable and temperamental insect – correctly, and the sting is the punishment for crossing the bee. The bee is thus an ideal tyrant.

The bee is the centre of a carrot and whip balance; a systematized mode of human behavioural control; an institution of societal value judgment and control; a means of punishing those who do not conform to the cooperate will and rewarding those who do; a standard of righteousness apart from God.

Thus God’s objection to Leaven and honey can be summarized in the statement;

“I will not share my glory with idols (imaginations) or my honour with men”

In other words, do not bring your social (sensual) values into the worship of God, He does not appreciate them; they come to please men, not God.

But what about salt?

Salt – then as now – does not modify the quality of taste or texture of the “meat” to which it is added, it simply intensifies or brings out the flavour of the taste that already exists in the food. It does not give its own taste to the food but exposes the quality of the food itself for easy perusal. Thus salt is a diagnostic – not a tenderizing or taste improvement agent. The word here is “insight” (or revelation).

It is noteworthy that salt is referred to as

“– the salt of the covenant of your God”.

In essence the order not to offer anything without salt is a call to base our worship on an insight into a standing covenant with God. A covenant is an agreement between two parties that states that as long as one party fulfil his part, the other party is obligated to fulfil his part. Thus, our religious acts are worthless without a covenant that gives it value before God;

“Without faith (faithfulness to God’s covenant with us), no man can please god”.