HYSSOP (hrs'srip), ( Heb. ay-zobe' ; Gr.
tocruaros, hoos'so-fios).
A great variety of opinions have been entertained respecting the plant called esobh, translated 'hyssop' in the Authorized Version both of the Old and the New Testaments; but as yet no satisfactory investigation has been made, so as to en able us to fix with certainty on the plant intended.
The first notice of it CUT'S in Exod. xii :22, where a bunch of hyssop is ed to be dipped in blood and struck on the lintels and the two side-posts of the doors of the houses in which the Israelites resided. It is next mentioned in Lev. xiv :4, 6, 52, in the mony for declaring lepers to be cleansed; and again, in Num. xix :6, z8, in paring the water of tion. To these passages the apostle alludes in Heb. ix : 19: 'For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood of calves, and of goats, with • water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people.' From honssopos we find that the Greek name pos was considered mous with the Hebrew esobh; and from the ceding that the plant must have been leafy, and large enough to serve for the pose of sprinkling, and that it must have been found in Lower Egypt, as well as in the country toward Mount Sinai, and onward to Palestine. From the following passages we get the supposed properties of the plant. Thus, in Kings iv:33, it is said, 'Solomon spoke of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop, that springeth out of the wall ;' and in the penitential psalm of David (li :7), 'Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.' In this passage it is no doubt considered by some commentators that hyssop is used in a figurative sense ; but still it is possible that the plant may have possessed some general cleansing properties, and thus came to be employed in preference to other plants in the cere monies of purification. It ought, at all events, to be found growing upon walls, and in Palestine.
In the account of the crucifixion of our Savior, the Apostle John says (John xix :29), 'Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.' In the parallel passages of Matthew (xxvii :48) and Nlark (xv : 36), it is stated that the sponge filled with vine gar was put upon a reed or stick. To reconcile these statements some commentators have sup posed that both the sponge and the hyssop were tied to a stick, and that one apostle mentions only the hyssop, because he considered it as the most important ; while, for the same reason, the other two mention only the stick; but the simplest mode of explaining the apparent discrepancy is to consider the hyssop and the stick to be the same thing—in other words, that the sponge was af fixed to a stick of hyssop.
A great variety of plants have been adduced by different authors as that alluded to in the above passages. It has been thought by some to belong to the class of ferns. Some again contend for species of wormwood, as being, frorn their bitterness, most likely to have been added to the vinegar in the sponge, that it might be more dis tasteful to our Savior. The majority, however, have selected different kinds of fragrant plants belonging to the natural family of Labiata,, sev eral of which are found in dry and barren situa tions in Palestine, and also in some parts of the Desert. Of these may be mentioned the rose mary, species of lavender, of mint, of marjoram, of thyme, of savory, of thymbra, and others of the same tribe resembling each other much in characters as well as in properties; but it does not appear that any of them grow on walls, or are possessed of cleansing properties; and with the exception of the rosemary, they are not capable of yielding a stick, nor are they found in all the required situations.
The Origantim morn, however, corresponds with the Arabic definition. It has a slender, square stem, and grows on the walls of the ter races throughout Palestine and Syria. The stem is free from thorns and spreading branches, but ends in a cluster of heads. The odor is highly aromatic, which fits it to be made into a branch for the purpose of sprinkling; in fact, no plant in the East is so well suited for such a purpose. (See YsoP.) I, when it relates to God, is expressive of his dignity (Ps. lxxxi :to) ; his power (Gen. xvii:1) ; his self-existence and unchangeableness (Exod.
:14).,.s. where his name is given "I AM" (Heb. 71:.:;??.; ehyeh asher ehyeh, God is he who is).
It relates also to the certainty of his promises and threatenings (Exod. vi :2 ; Num. xiv :35). Referring to men, it expresses their pride (Is. xlvii :8) ; the certainty of what they say (Gal. v:2; Phil. iv :II), and their readiness to perform their duty (Micah iii :8; Matt. xxi :30).