EZOBH ; Sept. and N. T. A great variety of opinions have been entertained re specting the plant called ezobh, translated hyssop' in the A. V. both of the 0. and N. T. ; but as yet no satisfactory investigation has been made, so as to enable us to fix with certainty on the plant in. tended. The difficulty appears to have arisen from the similarity of the Greek name Cao-onros to the Hebrew ezobh, whence the former seems, from an early period, to have been considered synony mous with the latter, and used for it in referring to the passages of the 0. T. where it is mentioned. As the Drrrrunrns of Greek authors is generally acknowledged to be the common hyssop (Hysso pus cyficinalis of botanists), it has been inferred that it must also be the plant of the 0. T., as well as that referred to in the N. T. This inference has not, however, been universally acquiesced in ; for Celsius enumerates, under no less than eighteen heads, the different plants which have been ad. duced by various authors as the hyssop of Scrip ture. Before mentioning these, it is desirable to refer to the passages of the 0. and N. T. where the plant is mentioned. The first notice of it occurs in Exod. xii. 22 ; it is next mentioned in Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 52 ; and again in Num. xix. 6, 18. To these passages the apostle alludes in Heb. ix. 19, and from this we learn that the Greek name Va.:I-corns was considered synonymous with the He.
Incw ezobh; and from the preceding passages that the plant must have been leafy, and large enough to serve for the purposes of sprinkling, and that it must have been found in Lower Egypt, as well as in the country towards Mount Sinai, and onwards to Palestine. In 1 Kings iv. 33 it is classed with trees; and from Ps. li. 7, it would appear to have possessed some cleansing quality, though here it is considered by some commentators that hyssop is used in a figurative sense. It ought, at all events, to he found growing upon walls, and in Palestine. In the account of the crucifixion of our Saviour, 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 Mark (xv. 36), it is stated that the sponge filled with vinegar was put upon a reed or stick. To reconcile these statements, some commentators have supposed that both the sponge and the hyssop were tied to a stick, and that one apostle mentions only the hyssop, because he con sidered 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 affixed to a stick of hyssop.
A great variety of plants have been adduced by different authors as that alluded to in the above passages. Of these some belong to the class of ferns, as Caplan: Veneris, maiden-hair, and Ruta Muraria, or wall-rue, because they will grow upon walls ; as also do the Polytrichzem, or hair-moss, the Kloster hyssops, or pearlwort, and Sagina pro cumbens are suggested by others, because from their growing on rocks or walls they will answer to the passage in 1 Kings iv. 33, and from their smallness contrast well with the cedar of Lebanon, and are a proof of the minute knowledge of Solomon. Some
again contend for species of wormwood, as being, from their bitterness, most likely to have been added to the vinegar in the sponge, that it might he more distasteful to our Saviour. The majority, however, have selected different kinds of fragrant plants belonging to the natural family of Labiate; several of which are found in dry arid barren situa tions in Palestine, and also in some parts of the Desert. Of these may be mentioned the rosemary, 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 situa tions. If we look to the most recent authors, we find some other plants adduced, though the gene rality adhere to the common hyssop. Sprengel (Hist. Rei Herb. i. 14) seems to entertain no doubt that the Thymbra spicata, found by Hasselquist on the ruins about Jerusalem, is the hyssop of Solo mon ; though Hasselquist himself thought that the moss called Gymnostomum truncatum was the plant. Lady Calcott asks, Whether the hyssop upon which St. John says the sponge steeped in vinegar was put, to be held to the lips of Christ upon the cross, might not be the hyssop attached to its staff of cedar-wood, for the purposes of sprinkling the people, lest they should contract de filement on the eve of the Sabbath, which was a high-day, by being in the field of execution' (Scrip ture Herbal, p. 208). Rosenmiiller, again, thinks that the Hebrew word Ezobh does not denote our hyssop, but an aromatic plant resembling it, the wild marjoram, which the Germans call Dosten, or Wohlgemuth, the Arabs Zatar, and the Greeks Origanum. In the Pictorial Bible (i. 161), Mr. Kitto suggests it as probable, that the hyssop was a species of Phytolacca, as combining length of stem with cleansing properties, from the quantity of pot ash which is yielded by the ashes of the American species, P. decandra, of this genus.' P. Abyssinica grows to the size of a shrub in Abyssinia. Winer (Bibl. Realworterbuch, ii. 819, s. v. Ysop) gives a description of the common hyssop, but says that it must not be concealed that the Talmudists distin guish the hyssop of the Greeks and Romans from that mentioned in the law. He then adduces the Origrznum, mentioned in the quotation from Rosen rthiller, as the Ezobh of the Hebrews ; but concludes by observing that a more accurate examination is required of the hyssops and Origana of that part of Asia, before the meaning of the Hebrew Ezobh can be considered as satisfactorily determined. After careful enquiry we are led to fix on the caper plant as the ezobh of Scripture. This plant has an Arabic name, asuf, similar to the Hebrew esob or esof, as it is found in Lower Egypt, in the deserts of Sinai, and in New Jerusalem. It grows upon rocks and walls, was always supposed to he possessed of cleansing qualities, is large enough to yield a stick, and its different parts used to be preserved in vinegar, as its buds now are. J. F. R.