SALT — first named as the fate of Lot's wife, who 'looked back… and became a pillar of SALT' (Genesis 19:26, already on these pages), an image of arrest and judgment. Every later use runs the opposite direction: salt PRESERVES rather than corrupts, so 'the salt of the covenant of your God' must never be missing from a grain offering (Leviticus 2:13) — an image of permanence, not paralysis. The same phrase, 'a covenant of salt,' names the priesthood's own perpetual portion at Numbers 18:19 (already on these pages) — one of only TWO verses in the Hebrew Bible carrying the exact phrase b'rit melach, the other being 2 Chronicles 13:5, of David's dynasty — and Elisha throws salt into a poisoned spring to heal it, not to freeze it (2 Kings 2:20-21, not yet on these pages). One word, and Scripture uses it to mean opposite things depending on whether it names a fate or a promise. → first discussed at Gen 19:26