There is a sense in which that which is devoted to God is thereby forbidden to the use of man. Thus land sown with salt may be counted as devoted and as destroyed, _devoted_ to God and _destroyed_ for man.[250] The Hebrew word _korban_ was applied to what had thus been dedicated and doomed.[251] [250] See Num. 21 : 2, 3. [251] Mark 7 : 11. See the Rev. Dr. Jastrow, in _The Sunday School Times_ for April 28, 1894; also W. Robertson Smith's _Religion of the Semites_, p. 435; also Nowack, _Lehrbuch der Hebræischen Archæologie_, II., 267. Blood also is used in the twofold sense of life and of death, in different connections. Men say, "We are bound together by blood," and "We are of one blood," and "Blood is thicker than water." They say, also, "There is blood between us," and "Spilled blood cannot be gathered up," and "Blood is a barrier." Salt, that stands for blood, may similarly stand for life or for death, for peace or for discord. It is an old superstition that to put salt on another's plate is an evil omen. Hence the couplet: "Help me to salt, Help me to sorrow!" Yet even this portent of ill luck may be canceled by a repetition of the act, helping to a second portion of salt.[252] The taking of blood that becomes a barrier may be followed by the taking of blood as a bond of union. Shedding of blood is atoned for by sharing of blood. [252] Henderson's _Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties_, p. 120. Thistleton Dyer's _Domestic Folk-Lore_, p. 104 f. Even the spilling of salt, which is so dreaded in primitive thought, may, it is said, be rendered harmless if the person who was guilty of the mishap will carefully gather up the spilled salt with the blade of a knife, and throw it over his left shoulder, with an appropriate invocation.[253] [253] Henderson, p. 120; Dyer, p. 104 f.; Napier, p. 139 f. It is deemed dangerous to give away salt to a stranger; for because salt is as blood and as life, one must be careful lest he put his blood and his life in the power of an enemy.[254] Salt is essential to the preservation of human life; at the same time, salt is the destruction of human life if it be in too great quantity or proportion. Thus the seeming contradiction is only in seeming. [254] Henderson, p. 217. XV MEANS OF A MERGED LIFE All life is from the Author and Source of life. Only as two persons become partakers of a common life by each and both sharing in that which is in itself life, can they become one in the all-inclusive Life. Having life from the Source of life, they can merge their common possession in each other, and in that common Source. Such merging in a common life, with an appeal to and by the approval of God, or the gods, has been the root-idea of covenanting, in one way or another, from time immemorial, among all peoples, the world over.