For God, salt was a symbol of his covenant with the Israelites. It showed that His covenant with them was permanent. Salt is also not something that can be destroyed by time or fire, but it endures.

When you do, however, and you arrive at the grain offering in Leviticus 2, you might notice something peculiar about its ingredients. For a grain offering you would expect some kind of cereal crop to be the principal ingredient—and you’d be right.

But then it also says this: “You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt” (v. 13).

That’s a lot of salt to add to the mix—what’s the meaning of it?

For God, salt was a symbol of his covenant with the Israelites. And it showed that His covenant with them was permanent. Think of how salt is a preservative. For example, you can salt your freshly caught fish to make it last longer. Or think of how there’s plenty of salt in beef jerky. Salt is also not something that can be destroyed by time or fire, but it endures.

This addition of salt to the offerings is called “the salt of the covenant with your God.” It was a reminder for the Israelites that God’s relationship with them was permanent: not to be destroyed, never broken. This is what God says in Numbers 18:19,

It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.

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