hyssop

[henrikhankhagnell]

Shalom!
Psalm 50 (51) says "Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed", but what does it mean?

 

[St_Worm2]

Shalom!
Psalm 50 (51) says "Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed", but what does it mean?

Sprinkling someone with blood and/or water using the leaves of a hyssop tree is something Hebrew priests did to purify a person who had been defiled. IOW, they would be cleansed after having done things that made them ceremonially unclean, like touching a dead body, or someone who had leprosy, etc.

In the case of King David (in Ps 51:7), this is part of his lament to God, longing to be cleansed and forgiven, to have his many great sins washed away.

 

[henrikhankhagnell]

Sprinkling someone with blood and/or water using the leaves of a hyssop tree is something Hebrew priests did to purify a person who had been defiled. IOW, they would be cleansed after having done things that made them ceremonially unclean, like touching a dead body, or someone who had leprosy, etc.

In the case of King David (in Ps 51:7), this is part of his lament to God, longing to be cleansed and forgiven, to have his many great sins washed away.

should I go to church and be sprinkled with Hyssop?

 

[Mr Dave]

should I go to church and be sprinkled with Hyssop?

No, because this was part of the Old Covenant, and this act was replace once for all by Jesus, or at least that's what I get from Hebrews;

For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.’ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

It's worth reading all of Hebrews 9 to get the whole context, silly for me to post the entire chapter.

Gud välsigne dig

 

[henrikhankhagnell]

No, because this was part of the Old Covenant, and this act was replace once for all by Jesus, or at least that's what I get from Hebrews;




It's worth reading all of Hebrews 9 to get the whole context, silly for me to post the entire chapter.

Gud välsigne dig

what about Asperges?

 

[Mr Dave]

what about Asperges?

hmmm, I'll have a think

 

[Mr Dave]

I guess, due to the water element, that that is (and as far as I know, is seen to be) a remembrance of baptism and all that is contained within the sacrament. The hyssop/blood thing is different as it is intwined in the making of the covenant. The two would be different in this sense. The asperges isn't trying to create a covenant with God but remember the sacrament of baptism.

 

[WagginDog]

To be sprinkled with hyssop is to be enabled to commune as part of the body of Christ. For Jews it probably means something similar to that but with a more Jewish wording.

The hyssop by itself probably doesn't mean anything but as part of the whole process with Jesus and the red heifers it means a lot. In the past Hyssop was used for passover, for making the special ash-water. It was needed to prepare Levites and priests to serve God and his people in the temple. It was used with the red heifer to make atonement for Israel. It is not only the sacrifice that is significant or only the hyssop or only the blood; but the sacrifice the hyssop, the blood and everything together communicate to us about God and about atonement. In the gospels hyssop was used by a Roman soldier to offer a pain killer to Jesus upon the cross (which he refused). That is significant since Jesus is our burnt offering to bring us gentiles to God in the same way as the red heifer was symbolic of bringing the Jews near, and at his destruction we see hyssop touch his lips. This perhaps symbolizes his perfection as he was made perfect through this sacrifice. It is a lot like when Isaiah had his vision at the beginning of his ministry and his lips were touched by coals. Jesus death is the beginning of his ministry rather than the end of it.

To see basic references about the hyssop plant check the Jewish Encyclopedia online. There is an article there about hyssop. Some people think the plant called hyssop in the Bible is Capparis spinosa, and there are a couple of other possible plants that hyssop might have been. You can get pictures of the plants on wikipedia and see the fruit and read about its medical uses and other information.

 

[Adrian Z]

I always thought hyssop was soap,

 

[henrikhankhagnell]

I always thought hyssop was soap,

maybe you can buy hyssop soap at the health store.