Musar for Berakhot 9:19

והיינו דרבי שמעון בן לקיש דאמר רשב"ל נאמר ברית במלח ונאמר ברית ביסורין נאמר ברית במלח דכתיב (ויקרא ב, יג) ולא תשבית מלח ברית ונאמר ברית ביסורין דכתיב (דברים כח, סט) אלה דברי הברית מה ברית האמור במלח מלח ממתקת את הבשר אף ברית האמור ביסורין יסורין ממרקין כל עונותיו של אדם:

The word berit "covenant" is mentioned in connection with salt and also with chastenings. With salt, as it is written, "Thou shalt not suffer the salt of the covenant of Thy God to be lacking" (Lev. ii. 13); and with chastenings, as it is written, "These are the words of the covenant" (Deut. xxviii. 69). As with the "covenant" mentioned in connection with salt, it is salt which sweetens meat, so with the "covenant" mentioned in connection with chastenings, they are chastenings which purge all the iniquities of man.

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

על כל קרבנך תקריב מלח . Rabbi Menachem HaBavli sees this requirement as analogous to the covenant which G–d is reported to have made with the waters of the oceans promising that they would be used for a sacrifice on the altar. Anyone who offers a sacrifice has to cause himself some physical discomfort. Just as salt sweetens the meat, i.e. makes it more palatable, so physical afflictions make his sacrifice of himself more palatable to G–d. Our sages in Berachot 7a expressed this idea when they said: "A single self inflicted pain has more beneficial effect on one's heart than many painful blows administered by outsiders."

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