Leviticus Ramblings
Salty offerings and being salty
Leviticus is a challenging book to read and it is challenging to bring its value and importance to light today. These laws in Leviticus are not given broad justification or meticulous descriptions of how sins are forgiven. Rather, they are presented as how one must approach God and present oneself before Him, who is Holy. In my previous post, I described Leviticus as a manual on how to kill death. Israel is called to be holy so that they can push back against the forces of death and sin in this world to be a nation that blesses other nations. But there are some curiosities I wanted to explore and see what I would find.
Salt
In Leviticus 2:11-13, there are a couple of fascinating additions and exclusions to what can be added to the offerings. First of all, yeast and honey are excluded from the grain offerings. As far as I could find, these were excluded because of their connotation to fermentation or potentially leading to food becoming putrid. They are not associated with life. Rather, these foods become mold or putrid. And mold has a whole section in Leviticus about how to avoid it.
Meanwhile, salt is invited to be included in the offerings. In one verse, salt is mentioned three times. It is even associated with the covenant! Salt is crucial in this verse and demonstrated to be covenantal. I did a quick look and found that Numbers 18:19 mentions the salt of the covenant as well. 2 Chronicles 13:5 mentions a covenant of salt with David. Salt and covenant seems to be related. And what was salt used for most often in the ancient world? Preservation. In a time where there were no refrigerators, salt was the way to make food last as long as possible. The salt of the covenant then highlights ideas of preserving the covenant. Salt is the a continual reminder of keeping the covenant preserved in the life of Israel. These sacrifices are preserving the covenant between God and Israel. Salt and life seems to be connected, as it is a life preserver. It is a tool in the battle against death. It also evokes the fact that the covenant is eternal. Salt referred to lasting commitment. Commitment lasting forever is crucial to the idea of salt.
Jesus likes salt too
Jesus encouraged his disciples to be like salt. Be life preservers. In Matthew 5:13 Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” This statement comes right at the beginning of the sermon on the mount. I can’t help but notice how salt is important at the start of Leviticus, just like it is important at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. And just as the command from Leviticus 19:18, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy,” mirrors Jesus’ statement at the end of chapter 5. Two strong connections with Leviticus within Jesus’ longest sermon. Within this chapter, Jesus even reiterates the importance of the law, and much like the second part of the book of Leviticus, lists many moral imperatives that strike at the heart of a person. So what is going on?
I think Jesus is drawing on what Leviticus is doing. Leviticus is instructing Israel on how holy God is, how to worship Him, and what that means for their day to day lives. This is what the Sermon on the Mount is accomplishing. God is holy, therefore, we must be holy. God invites us to participate in His mission in this world. And we must be salty. To be life preservers in the midst of a world where death seems to be all around us. We follow in the footsteps of Jesus who has lived, died, and been resurrected, conquering death and providing forgiveness of sins. For us to be salt, we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Which means to be completely restored and made new through the washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit. A lifetime of sanctification where we may throw off the grip of death and, along with Jesus, stand against death. Holiness kills death.
Living Sacrifice
So how do we do this? Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” It is worship. Worship is at the core of being a faithful disciple and being life preserving salt. I think this is the greatest challenge in Christianity. It is relatively easy to believe God exists. It is relatively easy to believe Jesus is God, lived among us, died on the cross, and was resurrected for the forgiveness of sins. It is decidedly difficult to accept and live into the full ramifications of being a living sacrifice. To unlearn the ways of the world and learn the “unforced rhythms of grace.” God wants to transform each and every part of our lives, from our emotional hurt, our physical pains, and our mental illness. Each of these parts are under the microscope to remove the stain and stench of death that sin has inflicted upon each section. C.S. Lewis explains this process best.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
God is not interested in simply making you okay. He wants to make you whole so that you are a temple. A holy space. A light in a sea of darkness who knows their Father in heaven.