"Salt is good: but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." (Mark 9:50)

Salt is indispensable to our physical survival. It is hard to overstate the role of salt in not only our individual lives but in the history of the Earth. In a wonderful book, "Salt, a World History," Mark Kurlansky tells us that there are more than 14,000 uses for salt. In addition to being essential in preserving our lives, salt's most ancient use was as a preservative of foods. As such, salt has deep symbolic significance.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior taught "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men" (Matthew 5:13). The Savior was not picking a random image. Salt was an Old Testament symbol of eternal covenants. "Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt" (Leviticus 2:13). "It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee" (Numbers 18:19).

"Salt was the food preservative par excellence in antiquity. Its use was required for all sacrifices and it stands in contrast to leaven and other fermentatives, whose use is forbidden on the altar. Thus salt is a symbol of permanence, and a 'salt covenant,' therefore, means an unbreakable covenant" (JPS Torah Commentary, Numbers, Jacob Milgrom). "The apostles are called 'the salt of the earth.' In other words, they are said to be the preservers, the guardians, of God's word and the teachers who protect and preserve the world against moral decay" (Leviticus, A Commentary, Jacob Milgrom).

"Salt has two properties: it is destructive, for it prevents plants from growing; and it is helpful, for it preserves food. The Covenant of Salt teaches that the sacrificial service, if performed properly and sincerely, preserves Israel, but if the service is neglected, it brings about destruction and exile" ("Leviticus, a New Translation").

In a wonderful general priesthood meeting talk, "Salt of the Earth: Savor of Men and Saviors of Men," Elder Carlos E. Asay emphasized the importance of not losing our savor. "When men are called into mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men; they are called to be the savor of men" (D&C 101:39-40). Elder Asay notes, "A world renowned chemist told me that salt will not lose its savor with age, savor is lost through mixture and contamination. Similarly, priesthood power does not dissipate with age; it, too, is lost through mixture and contamination. We must fight daily to retain our savor, our purity" (Ensign, May 1980).

Joseph A. Cannon is editor of the Deseret News.

E-MAIL: cannon@desnews.com