Elisha called for a new vessel that had never before been used, and for salt, by means of which the water was to be made pure and wholesome. Salt was called for probably because it was commonly used as a means of preservation, to prevent rottenness and decay. There was no virtue in the salt itself as a means of restoring the impure spring; it was only a symbol of the purifying, restoring power that proceeds from God, who was to restore the waters to their former life-giving powers.