Opus 2012-147, Healthy Insights: Biblical Nutrition, Salt, Part 3 of 4

Moderation is always a key.  Good things misused become sinful.  When I was a kid I used to get rock salt and suck on it.  I used to love chopped spinach and I would cover it with salt so it looked like a mountain in the middle of winter.  I am not sure that was good for me, but I survived.  Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.  Salt in excess was also used to kill and destroy.

(Deuteronomy 29:23 KJV)  And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

When Rome finally defeated Carthage they covered the area with salt to kill all the vegetation and make it impossible for the area to be used again.  This was a common practice against enemies.  In this verse we see the references to Sodom and Gomorrah, which most have heard about.  The other two towns are always in a list of these four cities.  All must have been noted for their evil and their destruction was sealed with salt.  Thus salt was sown to destroy sin.

That is probably why salt works as a preservative.  It keeps the germs of corruption from growing, thus keeps the food from going bad.

I have also heard that improper farming methods can ruin the soil.  Too much irrigation can somehow increase the salt content of the field and make it unproductive.  If my memory is correct, James A. Michener related how some rich farmland in the Middle East became desert because of this.

So, how about some common sense here.

To be continued...

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