- The Bible mentions hyssop several times, mostly in the Old Testament. In Leviticus, God commanded His people to use hyssop in the ceremonial cleansing of people and houses. In one example, God tells the priests to use hyssop together with cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and the blood of a clean bird to sprinkle a person recently healed from a skin disease
- This act would ceremonially cleanse the formerly diseased person and allow him to reenter the camp (Leviticus 14:17). The same method was used to purify a house that had previously contained mold (Leviticus 14:3353).
- Hyssop is also used symbolically in the Bible. When the Israelites marked their doorposts with lambs blood in order for the angel of death to pass over them, God instructed them to use a bunch of hyssop as a paintbrush (Exodus 12:22). This was probably because hyssop was sturdy and could withstand the brushing, but it also likely signified that God was marking His people as pure and not targets of the judgment God was about to deal out to the Egyptians.
- David also mentions hyssop in Psalm 51:7: Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. David does not refer to physical cleansingrather, he is asking God to cleanse him spiritually as he confesses his sin.
- Hyssop also appears at Jesus crucifixion, when the Roman soldiers offered Jesus a drink of wine vinegar on a sponge at the end of a stalk of hyssop (John 19:2830). This was, in fact, Jesus last act before He declared His work on earth finished. It is possible that God meant this as a picture of purification, as Jesus bought our forgiveness with His sacrifice. In the Old Testament blood and hyssop purified a defiled person, so Jesus shed blood purifies us from the defilement of our sin.
The Bible mentions hyssop several times, mostly in the Old Testament. In Leviticus, God commanded His people to use hyssop in the ceremonial cleansing of people and houses. In one example, God tells the priests to use hyssop together with cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and the blood of a clean bird to sprinkle a person recently healed from a skin disease. This act would ceremonially cleanse the formerly diseased person and allow him to reenter the camp (Leviticus 14:17). The same method was used to purify a house that had previously contained mold (Leviticus 14:3353). Hyssop is also used symbolically in the Bible. When the Israelites marked their doorposts with lambs blood in order for the angel of death to pass over them, God instructed them to use a bunch of hyssop as a paintbrush (Exodus 12:22). This was probably because hyssop was sturdy and could withstand the brushing, but it also likely signified that God was marking His people as pure and not targets of the judgment God was about to deal out to the Egyptians. David also mentions hyssop in Psalm 51:7: Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. David does not refer to physical cleansingrather, he is asking God to cleanse him spiritually as he confesses his sin. Hyssop also appears at Jesus crucifixion, when the Roman soldiers offered Jesus a drink of wine vinegar on a sponge at the end of a stalk of hyssop (John 19:2830). This was, in fact, Jesus last act before He declared His work on earth finished. It is possible that God meant this as a picture of purification, as Jesus bought our forgiveness with His sacrifice. In the Old Testament blood and hyssop purified a defiled person, so Jesus shed blood purifies us from the defilement of our sin.
