And every oblation. — But salt, which is the contrary to leaven, and which preserves from putrefaction and corruption, was to be an ingredient, not only of bloodless, but of all animal sacrifices (Ezekiel 43:24).
The salt of the covenant of thy God. — From its antiseptic and savoury qualities, salt became the symbol of hospitality, friendship, durability, fidelity. “To eat bread and salt together” is, in the East, an expression for a league of mutual amity (Russell, Aleppo, i. 232). When the Arabs make a covenant together, they put salt on the blade of a sword, from whence every one puts a little into his mouth. This constitutes them blood relations, and they remain faithful to each other even when in danger of life (Ritter, Erd. 14:960). Hence the expression “a covenant of salt,” which also occurs in Numbers 18:19, and 2 Chronicles 13:5, denotes an indissoluble alliance, an everlasting covenant. Hence, too, the phrase “salted with the salt of the palace” (Ezra 4:14) means bound by sacred obligations of fidelity to the king.