What is hyssop? What was hyssop used for in the Bible?

A plant used in the Jewish observances. It is often associated with cedar wood and scarlet, and was used in sprinkling the unclean. It is described as springing out of the wall showing its littleness, though some of its stems may have been long enough to be used as a reed on which the sponge was placed to give the Lord vinegar when on the cross. Others however suppose that the hyssop was added because of its aroma, and both the sponge and the hyssop were tied to a reed. The hyssop is in contrast to the stately cedar, and is symbolical of man's littleness. The words ezob and ὕσσωπος doubtless point to the well-known hyssop which is extensive in Palestine, though some suppose other aromatic plants are included, as the wild marjoram. Ex. 12:22; Lev. 14:4, 6, 51, 52; Num. 19:6, 18; 1 Kings 4:33; Ps. 51:7; John 19:29; Heb. 9:19.

The hyssop has a very distinct place in Scripture. Solomon "spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall" (1 Kings 4:33), i.e., the greatest and the least of the products of the vegetable kingdom. The hyssop was a little shrub that did not even take root in the ground, but came out between two stones in the wall. Have I any part in my own redemption? Yes. What is it? My sins, that is all. And of course, if I have a real sense of what my sins are, I shall be bowed before God in repentance, and self-judgment, and the acknowledgement of those sins. And I believe the bunch of hyssop expresses what goes on in the soul of the convicted sinner, contrition before God, in the sense of my sins, and of what I am. My sins would have brought me into death and judgment before God, and nothing but the blood of the Substitute can meet the necessity of my case, so, in faith, and in the sense of my need, I put that blood between my soul and God, and I am safe.

But we come now to the gospel, although in that veiled way in which the Old Testament of necessity so largely spoke, and still, as all through this psalm, in the language of prayer for the blessing; not yet as realizing it. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Here nothing is mentioned that had real power to cleanse, even in the Mosaic ritual! The hyssop was of course only that by which the sprinkling that really cleansed was effected. It was used to sprinkle the passover blood upon the doorposts (Ex. 12:22). It was that which, along with cedar and scarlet, was dipped with the living bird in the blood of its fellow, which then was sprinkled upon the leper; to cleanse him (Lev. 14:6; 7). It was used in the case of one defiled with the dead to sprinkle the water of purification upon him (Num. 19:18). There is no other use of hyssop given us in the Old Testament; and to one of these it must refer.

We can have little difficulty in deciding which is here to be understood. The passover is out of the question. Besides its relation to one special feast, which would hardly make it appropriate to an individual case like this, the blood of the paschal lamb was not sprinkled upon the person; but on the door-posts of the houses within which the feast was being kept. Of the two other occasions, the sprinkling upon the leper might seem to be most appropriate to the case of one so deeply affected with sin; and in a state so naturally incurable; as the fifth verse has shown. In the case of the leper; however, the hyssop has no distinct relation to the cleansing: it is simply dipped in the blood, along with the cedar and scarlet and the living bird, and then it is said only that "he" — the priest — "shall sprinkle." On the contrary, in the ordinance of the red heifer (Num. 19) the hyssop comes again, as at the passover; into unmistakable prominence as the means of sprinkling the blood; while, in contrast with the passover; this is sprinkled upon the person; to cleanse him. Thus the reference in the psalm would naturally be to this. Thus defilement with the dead is expressly what is before us here; while the deliverance sought from blood-guiltiness (in the fourteenth verse) shows us how far beyond ordinary defilement the case here goes. The finger; as it were; points in a certain direction to show us what is in question, but there is still an enigma to be solved: how can the law of the red heifer apply? was it ever ordained for cleansing from. the guilt of blood-shedding? The only answer that can be given is necessarily in the negative.

Hyssop has a large place in Scripture. A bunch of hyssop was dipped in the blood, and put on the lintel and the two side posts of the door on the passover day (Ex. 12:22). Hyssop was plunged in the running water when the leper was cleansed (Lev. 14:4-6). Hyssop was burned here. David in agony of soul says, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" (Ps. 51:7). Again: "They filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth" (John 19:29), in the moment of our blessed Lord's dying agonies on the cross. It has a wonderful meaning in Scripture, connected with man's littleness, while the scarlet indicates the glory of man.

In verses 21-24, we have the record of how Moses conveyed these instructions to the people, and one or two additional features are mentioned. The blood was to be applied with hyssop, a small plant that grew freely on walls. Several times in Leviticus cedar wood and hyssop are mentioned together. Now the cedar is an emblem of majesty, and by way of contrast hyssop is an emblem of what is humble and insignificant. It was fitting that the hand that applied the blood should be covered with humility. It is when we are brought down into the dust of repentance that we are covered by the blood of Christ.

And further, those covered by the blood had to remain in the house until the morning. While judgment was falling upon the Egyptian world the firstborn were to remain safely housed beneath the blood. When the morning appeared their deliverance from Egypt became an accomplished fact. We pass through the night of this world to the brightness of the morning that is coming. Thanks be to God, the efficacy of the blood of Christ abides throughout the night. No fresh application of it is needed.

On the face of it, the work first of all was done for the leper, not in the least degree by himself. The priest commanded to take for him that is to be cleansed two clean living birds, and cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. Then he commanded further that one bird be killed in an earthen vessel over living water. The living bird he took with the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dipt them all in blood of the bird killed over the living water; and lastly he sprinkled upon the man to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, pronouncing him clean, and letting the living bird free.

The two clean birds thus set forth Christ dead and risen, the one killed, the other let loose into the open field. But there is far more here; for the bird to die was killed in an earthen vessel over living water. How plain the indication of Him who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself spotless to God, deigning to be crucified in weakness! Again, what can be more evident than the pains taken to identify the living bird with the slain one by dipping it in the blood of the one killed over the living water? So Christ was given up for our offences and raised for our justification, as says the apostle (Rom. 4:25).

The priest, satisfied that he was healed, commanded to be taken for him that was to be cleansed two birds, alive and clean, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. One bird having been killed over running water, the other was dipped in its blood with the cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, and the individual was sprinkled with blood seven times, after which the living bird was let loose into the open field. To the cleansed leper this may have been a mysterious rite — even the priest may not have been able to interpret it — but to us it has a language, and its voice is one of no uncertain sound. It speaks of death and resurrection — even of His who died and rose again, and of the application of that death in power to the soul by the Holy Ghost, through the word. The living bird became identified, by dipping it in the blood of the one which had died; and, flying away from the scene of the death of its fellow, shadowed forth the Lord's resurrection from the dead. The cedar-wood and hyssop seem to be emblematic of the products of nature — comprising, as the two ends of a long chain, all that grows on the earth (see 1 Kings 4:33); the scarlet is an emblem of the glory of the world. All that was of nature, and the glory of the world, he was to view dipped in the blood of the slain bird; as now, what answers to those emblems should be viewed through the medium of the cross. The cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet were not destroyed, but they appeared, when dipped in the blood, in a new light: so should it be with us. That death as a practical truth, when forgotten, must be brought home afresh to the soul in power. If nature has been allowed to work where death should practically have been known, that failure must be judged, and the soul, reminded of it, confess the need of the Lord's death and resurrection first, and the need, too, of their application to its walk on earth.

But this work of restoring an individual to outward communion with God's saints, is one for which we must be indebted to the ministrations of others. "Restore such an one in the spirit of meekness." "Confirm your love toward him." So the leper stood by whilst the bird was killed for him, and he was sprinkled with its blood. But, this service performed, he was able to act, and the first thing he did was to wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he might be clean: after which he could enter the camp. This was the work of the first day, and this the happy result. Thus, as exhibited in type the death and resurrection of the Lord and the individual's identification with him being acknowledged, cleansing himself is the next and proper work.

Notice too, that into the blood of the slain bird were to be dipped the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop. The cedar is the most majestic of trees, hyssop is the humblest of herbs, and scarlet bespeaks the glory of men. The death of Christ has stained the pride of all human glory and of all that is natural to this first creation from the greatest things to the least.

No doubt when he prayed to the Lord to purge him with hyssop the ordinance of the red heifer (Num. 19) was in his mind. A red heifer without blemish was to be slain and burned. The ashes were to he laid up in a clean place till needed. The need arose when one came in contact with any defiling thing, such as a dead body, a human bone, or a grave (verse 16). The ashes were to be applied to the defiled person by means of running water. Hyssop was to be dipped in the water into which the ashes had been cast and sprinkled on the person concerned.

A clean person had to take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the person or thing that was to be cleansed. This had to be repeated on the third day, and again on the seventh day. Then on the seventh day the defiled person had to purify himself, wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and in the even he would be ceremonially clean.

The hyssop, the meanest of herbs, sets forth repentance. To come to the Scriptures with pride, clad as it were in scarlet, will never do. There must be humility. Further, this type shows that defilement is not so easily removed, when the first sprinkling does not suffice, nor the second on the third day, but only the third on the seventh day, and that not without washing of clothes, and bathing in water and then not till the even was reached. Meditating on this chapter we get a striking lesson as to the holiness needed with those who have to do with God. We get also a deep sense of the value of the atoning death of our adorable Lord, whether in its primary effects when we first came to the Lord as guilty sinners seeking forgiveness of sins; or in this secondary way when as saints we seek to answer to God’s holiness in our practical everyday life in this defiling world.