[143] Dr. Kohler states that the reason for not throwing these fragments on the ground, is because the Jews would not disgrace what is regarded as a special gift of God.
"The knife that cuts their meat, must never touch what is made of milk;[144] whatever, in short, strikes the senses in any manner, must be blessed. They never rise from the table without leaving something for the poor; but the knives must be removed before they return thanks, because it is written, 'Thou shalt set no iron on the altar.' Now a table is the representative of an altar, at saying grace before, or returning thanks after meal."[145]
[144] Because meat and milk are never to be eaten together. See p. 62, _supra_. (Exod. 23 : 19; 34 : 26; Deut. 14 : 21.)
That the table was looked at as an altar among ancient peoples, is to be inferred from various proverbs and practices with reference to it. Thus one of the symbolic sayings of Pythagoras is, "Pick not up what is fallen from the table."[146] A comment on this is, that as the table was consecrated to divinities, whatever fell from it was not to be restored, but to be left, as was the gleaning of God's fields, for the poor.[147] When the Syrophoenician woman said to Jesus, "Yea, Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table,"[148] she spoke in recognition of this primitive truth, that the crumbs from the table might be shared by whoever hungered.
[146] Dacier's _Life of Pythagoras_, p. 116.
A usage in the early Latin Church would seem to be in the line of the Jewish thought, that bread and salt at the table are a sacrifice, or a sacrament; and it would also appear to be in recognition of the fact that salt stands for blood, or for life. The catechumens, before they were privileged to share in the Eucharist, were made partakers of the sacrament of salt (_sacramentum salis_),--salt placed in the mouth, accompanied by the sign of the cross, and by invocations and exorcisms.[149]
[149] Bingham's _Antiquities of the Christian Church_, Book X., Chap. 2; Smith and Cheetham's _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, arts. "Catechumens," "Salt."
St. Augustine, speaking of this sacrament, says: "What they receive is holy, although it is not the body of Christ,--holier than any food which constitutes our ordinary nourishment, because it is a sacrament." And, referring to its reception by himself, he says: "I was now signed with the sign of the cross, and was seasoned with his salt."[150]