Kommentar zu Wajikra 2:13

מלח ברית [NEITHER SHALT THOU SUFFER] THE SALT OF THE COVENANT [… TO BE LACKING FROM MY MEAL OFFERING], because a covenant was established with the salt as far back as the six days of Creation when the lower waters (those of the oceans) received an assurance that they would be offered on the altar in the form of salt and also as water in the ceremony of “the libation of water” on the Feast of Tabernacles).‎

NEITHER SHALT THOU SUFFER THE SALT OF THE COVENANT OF THY G-D TO BE LACKING FROM THY MEAL-OFFERING. “For a covenant was established with salt as far back as the six days of Creation, for the lower waters [i.e., those of the oceans] were promised that they would be offered upon the altar in the form of salt, and [also as water] at the libation of water, on the Festival of Tabernacles.”²¹⁹During the morning Daily Whole-offering on the seven days of the Festival of Succoth, there was in addition to the regular libation of wine, a libation of water on the altar. The drawing of the water from the fountain of Shiloah was marked by a great public festivity held in the Court of the Sanctuary during the evenings of the festival. They were known as the Simchath Beth Ha’sho’evah (Rejoicing of the Drawing of the Water). This is Rashi’s language, and it is a homiletic exposition of the Sages.²²⁰Numbers 18:19. See Rabbi M. Kasher’s Torah Shleimah here, Note 111. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra interpreted it in line with the plain meaning of Scripture as follows: “I have brought you into a covenant and made you swear that you would not offer a saltless offering, nor shall it [i.e., a saltless offering] be eaten,²²¹Ibn Ezra’s intention in using this phrase [“Nor shall it be eaten”] is unclear to me. Perhaps he means that the priests when eating the flesh of certain offerings [such as the sin-offering, guilt-offering etc., or the Israelite eating the peace-offering] must salt it, otherwise the food is without flavor and thus they show their contempt for it, as they did not take the effort to prepare it properly. The commentators on Ibn Ezra are silent on this point. because it is a mark of contempt.” Now since salt is the covenant of the offerings, Scripture made this accord the pattern for all such agreements, saying of the gifts given to priests and the dynasty of David that they are [an everlasting] covenant of salt,²²²Numbers 18:19 [referring to the gifts of the priests]; II Chronicles 13:5 [referring to the kingdom of the House of David]. meaning that they are as everlasting as the covenant of salt of the offerings. There, however, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained:²²³Numbers 18:19. “A covenant of salt — a covenant decreed, it being of the root, a fruitful land into a salt waste,²²⁴Psalms 107:34. since a salt waste is as if it has been decreed [upon it that nothing should grow therein].”²²⁵So clearly explained in Ibn Ezra (Numbers 18:19). But there is no sense to his words.
Now it seems to me that since Scripture here states, the covenant of thy G-d, and does not say “the covenant of the Eternal,” which would have been in consonance with the language of the section and the way all the offerings are mentioned [throughout Scripture], or did not say, “the covenant of the Eternal thy G-d” — that the reason for this is because salt is derived from water, and it is through the power of the sun which shines upon it that it becomes salt. Now the nature of water is that it soaks into the earth and makes it bring forth and bud; but after it becomes salt it destroys every place and burns it, that it is not sown, nor beareth.²²⁶Deuteronomy 29:22. Since a covenant is inclusive of all attributes, water and fire come into it, and unto her shall come the former dominion²²⁷Micah 4:8. — the Kingdom of G-d, just like salt which seasons all foods and helps to preserve them, but destroys them when they are over-saturated with it. Thus salt is like the covenant. It is for this reason that Scripture states, Ought ye not to know that the Eternal, the G-d of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt²²⁸II Chronicles 13:5. forever? For this too is the attribute of David. Therefore He says in connection with the offerings, it is an everlasting covenant of salt,²²³Numbers 18:19. for the covenant is “the salt of the world,” and by virtue of it [the world] exists or may be destroyed. I have already taught you to understand from our words in other places the meaning of these three words, brith olam hi (it is a perpetual covenant).²²⁹See Exodus 31:16-17, and Ramban there at the end of Verse 13 (Vol. II, p. 548).

וכל קרבן מנחה במלח תמלח, “and you are to add a portion of salt to every meal-offering.” The reason why the Torah again reverted to the singular mode is that the command is directed at the owners presenting the offering to the priest as their deputy. You will recall that at the beginning of this paragraph, (verse 7) when speaking of מנחת מרחשת, a meal offering in a deep pan, the Torah had also used the singular mode. The reason is that the adding of the salt is something permitted to be done by the ordinary Israelite who is not a priest. The same rule applies here as it does to the pouring and mixing of the oil of the meal offering.