VaYiqra (Leviticus) 1:1–5:26

We begin the third book of the Bible this week! In this week's reading, we see for the first time an important concept that Yeshua Himself spoke of, which is salt:  “Every grain offering of yours, you shall salt with salt, you shall not omit salt of the covenant of your God from being placed above your grain offering; on all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13).

Clearly, God considered salt an important part of the offering, but why was it so important? To answer this, let's first look at another important instruction that God gave to the Children of Israel regarding the consumption of animal blood:

For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, “You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.”
(Leviticus) 17:14

What's the connection? Well, when you cover meat with salt, it draws all of the blood from the animal, i.e. “the life of the flesh”. Not only that, but it will also help to preserve the meat and will kill off any bad germs hiding in the meat. We see then that salt is used to cleanse and preserve. What a powerful picture of its importance for symbolically preserving & purifying the covenant that God mentions in Leviticus 2:13!

Salt has another amazing property, which is to heal. In 2 Kings 2:21, Elisha threw salt in the water and healed it. Until today, people with various skin diseases come from all over the world to bathe in the healing waters of the Dead Sea, because of its high salt content!

Our Messiah spoke of the power of salt when He said to His disciples, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matthew 5:13).

He is the salt - He cleanses, preserves, and heals. Our job is to be His salt on this earth, so that through us, His healing will come to this world. The only way this can happen is if the “bad blood” of our sins will be replaced by His blood that was shed for us. Also, He preserves His covenant; He is faithful to His promises.

Returning to the example of the Dead Sea, I thought more about how the salt is a wonderful illustration of the Lord. Like I wrote, many people come to the Dead Sea because they know that the salt heals. However, when one enters the Sea and he has a cut on his body, it will be a painful sting at first, but then the wound will slowly heal. So it is with our sin! When the Holy Spirit reveals our sin, it stings... the conviction of one's sin hurts. However, by the work of our Messiah and His blood, it will heal. And not only that, but He will preserve that healing for all eternity.

We live in a broken and sick world that is in much need of healing. Is your life full of the saltiness of the Lord so that you can bring His healing to others? Let's walk in the healing that He has given us, and pass it on...the world needs it!

Shabbat Shalom,
Moran