Numbers 18:19

offer. heave up as. heave offering. See note on Exodus 29:27.

covenant of salt. Hebrew covenant. berith, from barah. to cut. hence, to eat. As salt was scarce and precious. and used with all eating, so it was put, by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for eating, just as the breaking of bread was. See Isaiah 58:7 (Authorized Version "deal"); Jeremiah 16:7 (Authorized Version "tear"). Lamentations 4:4.Ezekiel 18:7 (Authorized Version "given"). Hence, when wages were paid in kind, by finding the worker in food, "salt" was put (by Figure of speech Metonymy) for wages generally; so that. worker was spoken of as being worth, or not worth, his "salt". "A covenant of salt" was therefore. covenant made by sacrifice, which was first cut in two (Genesis 15:10; Jeremiah 34:18; Jeremiah 34:19) and then eaten, thus solemnizing an inviolable covenant.