Which OT passages link salt, fire?
What Old Testament passages connect with the imagery of salt and fire here?

The Verse in Focus

“For everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:49)


Old Testament Passages About Salt in Sacrifice

Leviticus 2:13 — “And you shall season with salt every grain offering; you must not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be missing from your grain offering. You shall add salt to all your offerings.”

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.”

Numbers 18:19 — “…It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring.”

2 Chronicles 13:5 — “Do you not 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?”


Old Testament Passages About Fire in Sacrifice and Purification

Leviticus 1:9 — “...and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.”

Leviticus 6:13 — “Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not go out.”

Numbers 31:23 — “Everything that can endure fire you shall pass through the fire, and it will be clean...”

Malachi 3:2-3 — “For He is like a refiner’s fire…He will purify the sons of Levi…”


Passages That Fuse Salt and Fiery Judgment

Genesis 19:24-26 — The cities receive “sulfur and fire,” and Lot’s wife becomes “a pillar of salt.”

Deuteronomy 29:23 — “The whole land will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt…”

Judges 9:45 — Abimelech razes Shechem and “sows it with salt.”


Why These Texts Matter to Mark 9:49

• Sacrifice imagery: Leviticus 2:13 and Ezekiel 43:24 show offerings both salted and consumed by fire—precisely the pairing Jesus echoes.

• Covenant loyalty: Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5 frame salt as a sign of an unbreakable covenant; Jesus applies that permanence to the refining fire His followers will face.

• Purification and judgment: Fire in Leviticus and Malachi purifies the faithful, while the Genesis and Deuteronomy passages warn that the same elements become instruments of judgment for the unrepentant.

• End result: Just as every Old-Testament sacrifice had to be touched by salt and flame before it was acceptable, every disciple must pass through God’s purifying fire, yielding a life preserved, purified, and wholly devoted to Him.

How can we apply the refining process described in Mark 9:49 today?
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