Matthew 5:13
Context5:13 “You are the salt 1 of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, 2 how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.
Matthew 16:4
Context16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then 3 he left them and went away.
Matthew 21:19
Context21:19 After noticing a fig tree 4 by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “Never again will there be fruit from you!” And the fig tree withered at once.
1 sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.
2 sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca.
3 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
4 tn Grk “one fig tree.”
sn The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7.