Subject: have salt with each other ??

From: Jean VALENTIN <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 96 07:52:04 +0100

Hello tc-ers.

I'm back with a strange translation I found in the Arabic version of ms 
Sinai Arabic 71 (Xth century, one of the earliest mss on which I'm 
working).

In NA27, Mk 9.50 (second part) is translated:
"Have salt in yourselves, and be in peace with each other".

In Sin. Arb. 71, this sentence is translated:
"Have salt in yourselves (litt. in your souls, usual in Arabic), and have 
_salt_ with each other".

I ask myself several questions about this passage. Could it be just 
another carelessness of the translator or the scribe, or is it possible 
that we have here a correct interpretation of this enigmatic sentence of 
Jesus? I mean by this, could it be that, in the milieu that produced the 
Gospel texts, "salt" was a metaphor for "peace"? 

Here are some pros and cons in disorder. NB. I don't want to get into 
speculations about "semitic originals of the Gospels" here, only I want 
to understand what happens in my Arabic version and its interpretation of 
the Greek!

(1) The translator is often free, if not careless. It might be just 
another occurrence.
(2) If an expression in Aramaic involved "salt" as a metaphor for 
"peace", then it might have survived in Palestinian Arabic and it would 
have been easy for the translator to restitute an idiomatic expression 
that was "simplified" by the Greek redactor(s) of Mk for the sake of 
being understood by his (their) audience.
(3) On the other hand, I've found some occurrences where Jewish realia 
were not known to the translator, who mistranslates words like 
"phylacteries" and sometimes "synagogue" (both in Mt 23).

So I ask the exegetes among you if they know of references to salt as an 
emblem of peace? And, maybe this can help us also understanding the 
meaning of the salt in the OT passages where it accompanies several 
sacrifices cf. Lev 2.13, Nb 18.19, Esd 4.14 and 7.22, Ez 43.24 - and what 
about Mt 5.13?). Also, if somebody had Rabbinic references about this, I 
think they would be interesting to examine in this context. I've just 
looked in the Qoran, there are a few references to salt but they don't 
help us as they are in descriptions of the sea as created by God.

Frankly, my impression after writing this is that options (1) and (3) are 
the most plausible, but one never knows...

Thanks for your feedback.

_______________________________________________________________________
Jean Valentin - Brussels - Belgium

Ce qui est trop simple est faux, ce qui est trop complexe est 
inutilisable.
What's too simple is wrong, what's too complex is unusable.
Wat te eenvoudig is, is verkeerd; wat te ingewikkeld is, is onbruikbaar.

---

From: [email-masked] (Ulrich Schmid)
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 96 16:17:52 +0100

>Gospel texts, "salt" was a metaphor for "peace"? 

<snip>

>about Mt 5.13?).

Though personally lacking any up-to-date knowledge, I may quote from the 1933 
article *hALAS* (by Hauck) in: Kittel, Theologisches Woerterbuch zum Neuen 
Testament, I, S. 229:
"Gemeinsames Geniessen von Brot und Salz oder von Salz allein stiftet feste 
Buendnisse: Nu 18,19; 2 Chr 13,5 Salzbund (Anmerkung: Vgl. Aristot[eles] 
Eth[ica] Nic[omachea] VIII 4 p 1156 b 27ff; Cic[ero] Lael[ius] 19,67)."
Though I did not check the references, I suspect this "Salzbund" a cultural 
feature transcendending limited regional or tribal/national boundaries. 
BTW-- Some (German) novels and "Reiseberichte" of the last century describe the 
"Salzbund" as peace and wellcome rite performed in various arabian societies.
Hope this helps 

Ulrich Schmid, Muenster

---

From: "Robert B. Waltz" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 08:41:59 -0700

>Gospel texts, "salt" was a metaphor for "peace"? 

While I have heard of salt being used as a peace offering, I don't
think that is what is involved here.

As I recall, the most common scribal error, after haplography, is
parallelism. And parallelism usually involves conforming to the
most familiar parallel. Which is usually the nearer parallel.
(See Colwell's article on the subject.) In other words, I think
the translator used "salt" in the second phrase because it occurred
in the first. It's just an error.

Robert B. Waltz
[email-masked]

Want more loudmouthed opinions about textual criticism?
Try my web page: http://www.skypoint.com/waltzmn

---

From: [email-masked] (Sigrid Peterson)
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 22:57:00 -0500 (EST)

Before concluding that "have salt with each other" is a simple error, 
check Encyclopedia Judaica, s.v. "Salt." It includes a number of HB/OT
references to "a covenant of salt" and ends by referring to Arabic usages. 

If peace is understood in terms of covenants, treaties, agreements, then 
to "have salt with each other" would be the equivalent of being at peace
with each other, especially for an Arabic translation, and would have the
advantage of filling out the chain of associations in Mark 9.49-50.

Sigrid Peterson   UPenn  [email-masked]
Finkelstein Fellow
University of Judaism