Salt and Light

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This article is about the metaphor. For the television network, see Salt + Light Television.

Salt and light is a metaphor used by Jesus in the Bible.

Some of the elaborations on the "Salt and Light" metaphors that Matthew recounts are also paralleled in Luke, but in completely different parts of the narrative, which leads scholars to suspect they originate in the Q document, which is essentially thought to be a collection of quotes with little narrative framework. That other metaphors in this part of Matthew appear in the Gospel of Thomas is generally viewed as supporting this, with the Gospel of Thomas normally hypothesised as deriving, more directly, from "Q." Essentially Matthew splits the metaphor of Salt and Light into two - the salt of the earth and the light of the world, the second being somewhat extended by further metaphors used to emphasise it - a city on a hill cannot be hid and you don't light a candle only to put it under a bowl, while the first is extended by the metaphor that salt which has lost its flavour is cast out. The Gospel of John also mentions the light of the world metaphor, but has Jesus claim that it is he who is the light of the world, rather than it being the people he is addressing.

The exact meaning of the expression salt of the earth is disputed, in part because salt had a wide number of uses in the ancient world. There are several different possibilities for the originally intended meaning of the salt metaphor:

  • Exodus, Ezekiel, and Kings present salt as a purifying agent
  • Leviticus, Numbers, and Chronicles present it as a sign of God's covenant.
  • The most important use of salt was as a preservative and hence the most common interpretation of the metaphor is as asserting the duty to preserve the purity of the world.
  • In the Rabbinic literature of the period salt was a metaphor for wisdom.
  • Salt was a minor but essential ingredient in fertilizer and so a few scholars such as Gundry believe that earth should be translated as soil (i.e. salt of the soil), and hence the metaphor asserts that the audience should help the world grow and prosper.
  • One interpretation of salt of the earth is that it orders the audience to take part in the world rather than withdraw from it

Salt itself, sodium chloride, is extremely stable and cannot lose its flavour, so salt that has lost its flavour cannot ever literally refer to actual salt. The most common explanation for this is that salt in the era was quite impure, not only due to extraction methods, but also due to unscrupulous merchants mixing it with other substances. Hill has proposed that the metaphor is quite aware of salt not being able to lose its flavour and hence being salt of the earth implies that the audience, once having heard the message, will never lose their influence or importance. The words translated lost its flavour actually translate from the Greek as became foolish, but the Aramaic for both phrases is the same, and English language translators universally accept that the verse is talking about flavour rather than intelligence. Some scholars do however feel that this may be wordplay related to the Rabbinic use of salt as a metaphor for intelligence.

As for the metaphors expanding on you are the light of the world. Schweizer considers that the city on a hill metaphor may be a reference to Mount Zion at the start of Isaiah 2, though scholars are divided on whether this is a specific reference to the idea of a New Jerusalem, or simply an obvious metaphor in relation to not hiding. According to Hill, the candle under a bowl metaphor could be a satirical swipe at the Jewish practice of hiding the Hanukkah lamp to protect it from desecration. Both Matthew and Luke resolve this metaphor by stating that the candle should be put on a stand, but while Matthew states that the lamp shines on all who are in the house, implying conversion from within the community, Luke has the lamp shining for those who come into the house, implying new people joining it. Isaiah talks about the light in verses 42:6, 49:6, and 60:3.

[edit] Cultural references

"Salt of the earth" has become a common English expression, although the modern usage of the phrase is somewhat separate from its scriptural origins, and today it refers to someone who is humble and lacking pretension. Due to its fame it has occurred a number of times in art and popular culture, but as Siebald notes usually these are based on the secular understanding of the term. It has been the title of an important 1954 film, a John Godber play, a song on The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet, and a non-fiction work by Uys Krige. Both Algernon Swinburne and D. H. Lawrence wrote poems by this name. The phrase is featured in the 2004 Green Day song She's a Rebel from their album American Idiot. In Middle English literature the expression had a different meaning somewhat closer to the scripture, mostly being used to refer to the clergy, as for example appearing in "The Summoner's Tale" and Piers Plowman.

The city on a hill metaphor is most famous for forming the basis of John Winthrop's City upon a Hill sermon outlining his vision of the new American colonies as a beacon to the rest of the world, in which sense the phrase was used by both Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. However the candle under a bowl metaphor has become even more influential:

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