Plants of the Bible
5. The Hyssop – Forgiveness
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash
me, and I shall be whiter than snow”
(Psalm 51:7)
Image: Wisconsin State Herbarium
Photographed by Emmet J. Judziewicz
We have learned that sinners are saved by the grace of God which is in Christ Jesus. There are many blessings which believers receive through the death and resurrection of their Lord and Saviour. Some of these blessings are pictured for us by the plants of the Bible. This month we look at a plant which illustrates a very important blessing.
As sinners the great thing we all need is forgiveness from God. While we may offend other people by our sins we always offend God by them. David understood this. After he had committed the great sin of stealing Uriah’s wife and sending him to his death he was brought to repentance. He cried to the Lord and said: “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (v.4).
Many forget this. If they have wronged their fellow men and they are found out then they admit their fault to them and ask them for their forgiveness. They think that this is the end of the matter. However we must always remember that God is looking down from above and that he sees our every deed, hears our every word and knows our every thought. “The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men” (Psa.11:4).
God gave us his holy law to keep but we have broken his law so many times. We cannot pay our debts. The scribes were were right when they said to Jesus, “Who can forgive sins but God only?” (Mark 2:7). We must go to the Lord with our burden of sin and guilt and seek his pardon. In his Word he encourages us to come to him. “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (Psa.130:4).
The hyssop plant teaches us about the wonder of God’s forgiveness. Hyssop is a bush found in the Middle East. There are about a dozen species, differing little one from another. The stems carry small, fragrant leaves and bear small blue flowers in the summer. How does the hyssop help us to learn a vital spiritual lesson?
Hyssop is a lowly plant. Solomon in his wisdom “spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall” (1Kings 4:33). He began with the greatest of trees and finished with the least of trees. While the cedar stretches up to the skies the hyssop rises just a few feet above the ground.
When Jesus was in this world, though he was the Son of God, he appeared more like the humble hyssop than the stately cedar. He was here to suffer and make atonement for sin. Jesus never sought the praise of men: he sought only to please his heavenly Father. By his perfect obedience to the will of God, even unto death, he provided pardon of sin for all who trust in him.
Though lowly, hyssop is a special plant. It once had a sacred use among God’s people. The stems would be cut off close to the ground and bunched together. Then the tips would be dipped in either water or blood. Drops of the liquid would be trapped within the leaves and the fine hairs on the tips. Lifted up and shaken the stems would bend and a spray would be sent into the air.
The priest took hyssop in his hand to purify those who were regarded as unclean and unfit for the house of God. Moses sprinkled the blood of calves and goats on the people at the giving of the law (Exod.24:8); when a leper was cured the priest sprinkled the blood of a bird upon him before he could come into the camp (Lev.14:4-8); when a man had touched a dead body the priest sprinkled water from a vessel containing the ashes of a burnt heifer (Num.19:17-19).
These ceremonies showed the cleansing from sin which Christ provides. He is the true “high priest over the house of God” (Heb.10:21) and he is also the sinless sacrifice once offered to God. He shed his own blood at Calvary. Animal blood could only purify the flesh but the precious blood of Jesus purges the conscience from guilt and purifies the heart from sin.
Though special, hyssop is a common plant. It was readily to hand for the Jews, even when they were slaves in Egypt. There the Lord told the head of every household to take a lamb and kill it. “And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning” (Exod.12:22).
Where the Lord saw the blood he passed over the house and the destroying angel did not bring the death which he brought upon the firstborn among the Egyptians. Many centuries later the prophet Isaiah foretold that Jesus Christ in his death would “sprinkle many nations” (Isa.52:15). By the preaching of the gospel God’s forgiveness is freely available to sinners everywhere today!
David longed for this forgiveness. He saw himself with a wicked heart, condemned by God’s law and deserving punishment for his sins. He prayed that God would cleanse his soul by the blood of Christ, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. That blood washes away the blackest sins and makes believers purer than the driven snow! They have “redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Col.1:14). Have you?
