The associations coiniected with salt in Eastern coun- tries are important. As one of the most essential arti- cles of diet, it syml)olized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity, and purity. Hence the expression, "covenant of salt" (Lev. ii, 13; Numb, xviii, 19; 2 Chron. xiii, 5), as betokening an indissoluble alliance between friends (see Gettysh. Evang. Rev. Oct. 18G7); and again the expression, " salted with the salt of the palace" (Ezra iv, 14), not necessarily meaning that thej^ iiad ''maintenance fintn the palace," as the A. Y. has it, but that they were bound by sacred obligations of fidel- ity to the king. So in the present day, "to eat bread and salt together" is an expression for a league of mu- tual amity {\\um:\\. A kpjm, i, 232); and, on the other hand, the Persian term for traitor is nemekharam, " faith- less to salt" (Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 790). The same force would be given by the preservative quality of salt (Bahrdt, De Fadere' Sulis [Lips. 1761] ; Hallervordt, «t/. [ibid. 1701]; Zeibich, id. [Ger. 1760]; Thomson, Land and Book, ii, 42 sq.). See Covenant. It was possibly •with a view to keep this idea prominently before the minds of the Jews that the use of salt was enjoined on the Israelites in their offerings to God ; for in the first instance it was specifically ordered for the meat-()ffering (Lev. ii, 13), which consisted mainly of fiour, and there- fore was not liable to corruption (see Pontanus, Zie Sale Sacrific. [Traj. 1703] ; Spencer, iJe Legis Bit. i, 5, 1). The extension of its use to burnt-sacrifices w^as a later addition (Ezra xliii, 24; Josephus, Anf. iii, 9, 1), in the spirit of the general injunction at the close of Lev. ii, 13. Similarly the heathens accompanied their sacri- fices with salted barley - meal, the Greeks with their ovXoxi'Tai (Homer, //. i, 449), the Romans with their mola sdl^a (Horace, Sat. ii. 3, 200) or their salsw frugcs (Virgil, ^n. ii, 133). Salt, therefore, became of great importance to Hebrew worshippers: it was sold accord- ingly in the Temple market, and a large quantity was kept in the Temple itself, in a chamber appropriated to the purpose (Jlaii Diss, de Usu Sails Symbol, in liilnis Sacris [(Jiess. 1692]; Wokenius, De Salitura Oblatiouum Deo /'<(tVr/r. [Lips. 1747] ; Josephus, yln/. xii, 3, 3 ; Middolh, v, 3 ; Uthon. Lex. Rabb. p. 668). It may, of course, be assumed that in all of these cases salt ■was added as a condiment ; but the strictness with which the rule was adhered to — no sacrifice being offered with- out salt (Pliny, xxxi, 41), and still more the probable, though perha|(S doubtful, admixture of it in incense (Exod. XXX, 35, where the woril rendered ''tempered together" is by some understood as "salted" — leads to the conclusion that there was a symbolical fr)rce attached Ut its use (Josephus, Ant. iii, 9, 1 ; Philo, ii, 255; Hot- tinger, ./»;-. Ileb. l.eyy. p. 168) ; as was certainly the case with the (ireeks and Komans (Pliny, Hist. Xat. xxxi, 44; Ovid, Fast, i, 337; Spencer, De Ley. Hit. iii, 2, 2; Lukemaclier, Aniiq. Cnec. Sacr. p. 350; Ilottinger. De Vm Sails, etc. [Marburg, 17oK]; Schickedanz, id. [ .Servest. 17.58]; Mains, id. [(Jiess. 1692]; Mill, id. (Ult. 1734]). Our Lord refers to the sacrificial use of salt in Mark ix, 49, .50, though some of the other asso- ciations may also be implied. The purifying property of salt, as opposed to corru))tion, led to its selection as the outward sign in Elisha's miracle (2 Kings ii, 20, 21), and is also developed in the N<'w Test. (Matt, v, 13; Col. iv, 6). The cuslom of rulil)ing infants with salt (Ezra .\vi, 4~) originated in sanitary considerations, but received also a symbolical meaning (Hichter, De Usu
Sails apiid P7-iscos Projimo et Sacra [Zittau, 1766]). — Smith ; Kitto.
SALT, Ecci-ESiASTiCAL Use op'. It would appear from a sentence of Augustine that in the 4th century it was customarj' to use salt in baptism, at least in Milan. Salt was placed in some churches on the tongues of the catechumens, as an emblem of wisdom and an admonition to attain it. With salt, milk and honey were given. In the Sacramentary of Gregory the Great, after a form for the benediction and consecration of salt, it is said, "Hac oratione expleta, accipiat sacer- dos de eodem sale, et ponat in ore infantis, dicendo, Accipe sal sapientiae in vitam a?ternam" ("This bene- diction being finished, let the priest take a portion of the same salt and put it into the mouth of the infant, saying. Take the salt of wisdom to eternal life"). See Farrar, Eccles. Diet. s. v.
SALT, City of (Heb. h- ham-Me'lach, ^bsn-^ir ; Sept. a'l voKhq 'SaSCjt', v. r. rj TroXig rm' aXwc; Vulg. civifas Salis^, the fifth of the six cities of Judah wOiich lay in the "wilderness" (Josh, xv, 62). Its proximity to Engedi, and the name itself, seem to point to its be- ing situated close to. or at any rate in the neighborhood of, the Salt Sea. Dr. Kobinson (Bib. Res. ii, 109) ex- presses his belief that it lay somewhere near the plain at the south end of that lake, which he would identify with the Valley of Salt (q. v.). This, though possibly supported by the reading of the Vatican Sept., "the cities of Sodom," is at present a mere conjecture, since no trace of the name or the city has yet been discov- ered in that position. On the other hand. Van de Velde (Syr. and Pal. ii, 99; Memoir, p. Ill, and Maj^i) mentions a Nahr Mahh which he passed in his route from Wady el-IJniail to Sebbeh, the name of which (tliough the orthography is not certain) may be found to contain a trace of the Hebrew. It is one of fimr ra- vines which unite to form the Wady el-Bedun. Another of the four, Wady 'Amreh (ibid.), recalls the name of GoiTiorrah, to the Hebrew of which it is very similar. — Smith. It seems most probalJe that it took its name from salt works or mines. At the south-western ex- tremitj' of the Dead Sea stands a remarkable range of hills of pure salt, and near them " the Citj' of Salt" was perhaps situated. There are ancient ruins at the mouth of Wady Zuweireh, at the northern end of the range; and others at Um-Baghek, five miles farther north. One or other of these places may mark the site of " the City of Salt" (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 345; Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 318 sq.). — Kitto. See Judah.