And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
The men of Jericho brought to Elisha the plea that the water of their city was unfit for use and bitter, and in response to that need he called for a new cruse to be brought to him with salt put in it for the healing of the spring. The new vessel with its salt was the means he employed at the bitter fountain when the waters were to be made wholesome. The salt itself held no purifying power but was only the outward sign used in the healing, which was accomplished miraculously by God rather than by any human wisdom or device.
The mingling of the salt with the polluted water symbolizes that God's children are to be made agents of His grace to bring salvation to others. Just as the salt when cast into the spring purified the water, so the divine life working through consecrated human instruments brings life and blessing where before there had been blight and death.
The men of Jericho brought to Elisha the plea that the water of their city was unfit for use and bitter, and in response to that need he called for a new cruse to be brought to him with salt put in it for the healing of the spring. The new vessel with its salt was the means he employed at the bitter fountain when the waters were to be made wholesome. The salt itself held no purifying power but was only the outward sign used in the healing, which was accomplished miraculously by God rather than by any human wisdom or device.
The mingling of the salt with the polluted water symbolizes that God's children are to be made agents of His grace to bring salvation to others. Just as the salt when cast into the spring purified the water, so the divine life working through consecrated human instruments brings life and blessing where before there had been blight and death.