THE PLAIN TRUTH
A MAGAZINE OF CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING
What is salt to you? An everyday product we take for granted right? Not so for the hearers of Jesus’ day. In ancient times, salt was seen as ‘White gold’ in many civilizations. Mark Kurlansky, a journalist and writer wrote, “Salt was one of the most sought-after commodities in human history until about 100 years ago.” An inscribed Old Sumerian proverb linked salt with bread as a necessity of life. Thousands of years later a Roman historian, Pliny who lived in the same century as Christ recorded that:
“Heaven knows, a civilized life is impossible
without salt”… “Nothing is more useful than salt
or sunshine …”