Fresh Salt

July 11th, 2008 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Fresh Salt

What is the City of Salt in Bible and Quran?

The Salt is mentioned in the Bible 46 times and in the Quran three times, i.e., the Bible cites the Salt 15 times more than the Quran does.

Furthermore, the total words of the Bible are 788,280 while the total words of the Quran are 77,473. It follows that, the Bible has the likely of more than 10 times than the Quran word-wise to talk about the Salt. In addition, the Bible has the prospective of more than 15 times than the Quran topic-wise to utter about the Salt.

The Salt in the Bible:

The Woman Salt: Lot's wife is a pillar of Salt.

Genesis 19:26

But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of Salt.

The Valley of Salt: 40 thousands were killed in it.

2 Samuel 8:13

And David became famous after he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

2 Kings 14:7

He was the one who defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt

1 Chronicles 18:12

struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

2 Chronicles 25:11

and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men

Psalm 60:1

struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

The City of Salt:

Joshua 15:62

Nibshan, the City of Salt and En Gedi.

The land Planted with Salt:

He sowed (planted) the city with Salt.

Judges 9:45

And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with Salt.

To be precise, I have read 20 versions of the Bible, 18 in English, one in Hebrew (Tanak) and one in Arabic. Eleven English versions say "sowed" the land with Salt. The Hebrew and the Arabic Versions say "planted" the land with Salt. Six English versions say "scattered" Salt over the land. One English version says "covered" it with Salt.

I wonder why the Bible says that and everyone in the world knows that the Salt is not a plant that needs to be sowed in the land.

The Mountain Salt (Tel Melah)

"Tel" means Mountain and "Melah" means Salt.

Ezra 2:59

The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel:

Ezra 2:58-60 (in Context) Ezra 2 (Whole Chapter)

Nehemiah 7:61

The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel.

The Salt home: The Salt flats as a Habitat

Job 39:6

I gave him the wasteland as his home, the Salt flats as his habitat.

You are the Salt of the earth

Matthew 5:13

[Salt and Light] You are the Salt of the earth.

The Salted Conversation: Season your conversation with Salt then you know how to answer everyone

Colossians 4:6

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with Salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

However, in Leviticus 2:13 we have this advise also but for grain!

"Season all your grain offerings with Salt."

The Healing Salt: How to heal the Water then it will never again cause death or make the land unproductive?

2 Kings 2:20

"Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put Salt in it." So they brought it to him.

2 Kings 2:21

Then he went out to the spring and threw the Salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' "

Salt the newborn: On the day of birth it is sin if you do not to rub the newborn with Salt

Ezekiel 16:4

On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with Salt or wrapped in cloths.

The Salt River: The River flows and makes the Salt water fresh.

As far as I know, all the Rivers' water are fresh!

Ezekiel 47:9

Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the Salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.

The fire Salted everyone! I really do not know how.

Mark 9:49

Everyone will be Salted with fire.

The sacred Salt:

Exodus 30:35

And make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be Salted and pure and sacred.

Ezekiel 43:24

You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle Salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

The covenant Salt: The Salt is the covenant of God

Leviticus 2:13

Do not leave the Salt of the covenant of your God

Numbers 18:19

It is an everlasting covenant of Salt before the LORD

2 Chronicles 13:5

Don't you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of Salt?

The Salt Sea: The Salt Sea is mentioned nine times in the Bible. However, all the seas and oceans are Salty.

Genesis 14:3

All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (the Salt Sea).

Numbers 34:3

.. your southern boundary will start from the end of the Salt Sea.

Numbers 34:12

Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea.

Deuteronomy 3:17

.. from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea).

Joshua 3:16

…while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea). Joshua 12:3

…from the Sea of Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea ).

Joshua 15:2

…from the bay at the southern end of the Salt Sea.

Joshua 15:5

…The eastern boundary is the Salt Sea

Joshua 18:19

…at the northern bay of the Salt Sea.

Prophecy that never happened:

Nothing will be planted in Moab's Land.

It is well known that Moab never stop planting and vegetation growing on it. On the other hand the Bible insists that it will be wasteland "forever".

Deuteronomy 29:23

The whole land will be a burning waste of Salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger.

Jeremiah 48:9

Put Salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste ; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them.

Zephaniah 2:9

Therefore, as surely as I live," declares the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, "surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah— a place of weeds and Salt pits, a wasteland forever. The remnant of my people will plunder them; the survivors of my nation will inherit their land."

Some Scientific questions that I will let you answer them:

Job 6:6

Is tasteless food eaten without Salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg ?

James 3:11

Can both fresh water and Salt water flow from the same spring?

James 3:12

My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a Salt spring produce fresh water.

However, we have one important question because the bible keeps repeating it for three times.

Matthew 5:13

But if the Salt loses its Saltiness, how can it be made Salty again?

Mark 9:50

"Salt is good, but if it loses its Saltiness, how can you make it Salty again?

Luke 14:34

"Salt is good, but if it loses its Saltiness, how can it be made Salty again?

The answer is yes we can make it Salty again, very easily by adding the appropriate quantity of sodium chloride!

The Salt in the Quran:

The Oceanologists and the Barrier between sweet and Salt Waters:

Surah 25:53

It is He Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: one palatable and sweet and the other Salt and bitter; yet has He made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed.

Surah 35:12

Nor are the two bodies of flowing water alike, the one palatable, sweet, and pleasant to drink, and the other, Salt and bitter. Yet from each (kind of water) do ye eat flesh fresh and tender, and ye extract ornaments to wear; and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the Bounty of Allah that ye may be grateful.

Modern Science has revealed that in the places where two different seas get together, there is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity, and density. For example, Mediterranean Sea water is warm, saline, and less dense, compared to Atlantic Ocean water. When Mediterranean Sea water enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill, it moves some hundred kilometers into the Atlantic at a deepness of about 1000 meters with its own warm, saline, and less dense characteristics. The Mediterranean water stabilizes at this depth. Although there are large waves, strong currents, and tides in these seas, they do not mix or transgress this barrier.

The Quran mentioned that there is a barrier between two seas that meet and that they do not transgress.

On the other hand, when the Quran speaks about the divider between fresh and Salt water, it mentions the existence of a forbidding partition with the barrier. Modern science has discovered that where fresh (sweet) and Salt water meet, like the case of Nile and Mediterranean Sea, there is a pycnocline zone with a marked density discontinuity separating the two layers. This partition (zone of separation) has a different salinity from the fresh water and from the Salt water.

This information has been discovered only recently, using advanced equipment to measure temperature, salinity, density, oxygen dissolubility, etc. We can not, however, see by eye the difference between the two seas that meet; rather the two seas appear to us as one homogeneous sea. Likewise, the human eye cannot see the division of water in estuaries into the three kinds: fresh water, Salt water, and the partition between both which is called zone of separation.

In the following verse, the water that we drink is a gift from Allah. It is Allah Who sends it from the clouds. Allah can make this water Salty if He and when He Wants. Thank to Allah Who did not.

Surah 56:68-70

[68] Have you considered the water which you drink?

[69] Is it you that send it down from the clouds, or are we the senders?

[70] It is Our Will, if we pleased, we would have made it Salty; why do you not then give thanks?

Back to the main issue of my series of articles; this is my question to you smart readers: "Is the Quran quoted from the Bible and which book preceded the sciences"?

About the Author

Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalil
Prof. of Clinical and Chemical Pathology,
Head of Clinical Microbiology and Infection Control Unit,
Ain-Shams University. Cairo, Egypt.
And,
President of the Egyptian Society of Inventors.
Member of the Egyptian union of Writers