hyssop Summary and Overview

(Heb. 'ezob; LXX. hyssopos), first mentioned in Ex. 12:22 in connection with the institution of the Passover. We find it afterwards mentioned in Lev. 14:4, 6, 52; Num. 19:6, 18; Heb. 9:19. It is spoken of as a plant "springing out of the wall" (1 Kings 4:33). Many conjectures have been formed as to what this plant really was. Some contend that it was a species of marjoram (origanum), six species of which are found in Israel. Others with more probability think that it was the caper plant, the Capparis spinosa of Linnaeus. This plant grew in Egypt, in the desert of Sinai, and in Israel. It was capable of producing a stem three or four feet in length (Matt. 27:48; Mark 15:36. Compare John 19:29).

(Heb. ezob.) The ezob was used for sprinkling in some of the sacrifices and purifications of the Jews. In consequence of its detergent qualities, or from its being associated with the purificatory Services, the psalmist makes use of the expression, "Purge me with ezob." #Ps 51:7| It is described in #1Ki 4:33| as growing on or near walls. (Besides being thus fit for sprinkling, having cleansing properties and growing on walls, the true hyssop should be a plant common to Egypt, Sinai and Israel, and capable of producing a stick three or four feet long since on a stalk of hyssop the sponge of vinegar was held up to Christ on the cross. #Joh 19:29| it is impossible to precisely identify the plant because the name was given not to a particular plant but to a family of plants associated together by Hyssop, qualities easily noticed rather than by close botanical affinities. Different species of the family may have been used at different times. The hyssop of the Bible is probably one (or all) of three plants:-- 1. The common hyssop is "a shrub with low, bushy stalks 1 1/2 feet high, small pear shaped, close-setting opposite leaves all the stalks and branches terminated by erect whorled spikes of flowers of different colors in the varieties. It is a hardy plant, with an aromatic smell and a warm, pungent taste; a native of the south of Europe and the East."--ED.) 2. Bochart decides in favor of marjoram, or some plant like it, and to this conclusion, it must be admitted, all ancient tradition points. (This is the Origanum maru, the z'atar of the Arabs. The French consul at Sidon exhibited to Dr. Thomson ("The Land and the Book," i. 161) a specimen of this "having the fragrance of thyme, with a hot, pungent taste, and long slender stems." Dr. Post of Beirut, in the American edition of Smith's large Dictionary, favors this view.--ED.) 3. But Dr.Royle, after a careful investigation of the subject, arrives at the conclusion that the hyssop is no other than the caperplant, or Capparis spinosa of Linnaeus. The Arabic name of this plant, asuf, by which it is sometimes though not commonly, described, bears considerable resemblance to the Hebrew. "It is a bright-green creeper, which climbs from the fissures of the rocks, is supposed to possess cleansing properties, and is capable of yielding a stick to which a sponge might be attached." --Stanky, "Sinai and Israel," 23. --It produces a fruit the size of a walnut, called the mountain pepper.

HYS'SOP , Ex 12:22. A plant often used in the ceremonies of purification. Lev 14:4, Lev 14:6, Lev 14:51; Ps 51:7. One of its characteristics is referred to in 1 Kgs 4:33. It is associated with our Saviour's last hours, John 19:29. More than twenty different plants have been urged as the species intended, Tristram and other recent authorities favor the caper-bush. But Dr. Post of Beirut, Syria, in the Sunday-School World for March, 1879, argues very conclusively, on philological and other grounds, in favor of a species of marjoram. For such reasons, he says, "hyssop should be a labiate plant with aromatic odor and capable of furnishing a reed-like stem suitable for binding the sponge upon and presenting it to the mouth of Jesus, John 19:29. Of the labiatc plants of Palestine, none so well fulfils these indications as the Origanum maru, the Sdfitar of the Arabs. Its thyme-like odor and pungent taste would have aided with the vinegar to assuage thirst. Most labiates have similar properties. Scarlet wool and hyssop were early associated in the ceremonial act of purification. It is remarkable that thymol, a product of a plant closely allied to the hyssop and origanum, is now extensively used as an antiseptic." He further adds upon the passage in John (above):" There is nothing in the narrative that would forbid the idea of the sponge saturated with vinegar having been bound with a bunch of hyssops on an ordinary reed (comp. Mark 15:36), in which case there would be no need of supposing the hyssop to have a reedlike stem." Bochart also decides in favor of the marjoram, or some plant like it. Ancient tradition likewise points to the same conclusion. The Hebrew word was probably applied to aromatic plants of the hyssop family, and not alone to one particular herb; this family is destitute of deleterious secretions, and the plants are fragrant as well as aromatic. As this family of plants abounds in Syria and the Sinaitic peninsula, Origanum maru, or Hyssop. there seems to be no valid objection to Dr. Post's view. __________________________________________________________________ I.

ezob. Not our "hyssop," the Hyssopus officinalis, which is not found in Syria or Arabia. "The hyssop that springeth out of the wall," being the smallest of plants, can hardly be the one used for sprinkling, but is a tufty wall fern, a miniature hyssop with lance-shaped leaves (1 Kings 4:33). Maimonides makes the sprinkling hyssop to be the marjoram (origanum) with long, straight stalk, downy leaf, and white blossom (Exodus 12:22); common in Israel and near mount Sinai; an aromatic plant. J. F. Royle thought that the caper plant (Capparis spinosa) meets all the requirements of Scripture: 1. It is found in Egypt, the desert, and Israel. 2. It grows among stones and upon walls, and trails like a bramble, in contrast to the stately cedar of Lebanon (compare Judges 9:15). 3. It has a long stick or stem (John 19:29, compare Matthew 27:48) wherewith the sponge of vinegar might be lifted to our Lord. 4. It has the requisites needed for purifying. Its Arab name asuf is akin to ezowb). It is "a bright green creeper which climbs out of the fissures of the rocks" (Stanley). It is used medicinally for cleansing, as in ulcers, leprosy, etc. (Pliny H.N., 20, section 59). However, the "scarlet" band may have tied the hyssop on the cedar to make it convenient for sprinkling. Septuagint and Hebrews 9:19 translates ezob "hyssop." Maimonides says the legal hyssop was used as a condiment. Porphyry (De Abstin., 4:7) says the Egyptian priests ate it mixed with their bread; so the marjoram (zaatar) is used in a mixture, dukkah, a food of the poorer classes (Lane, Modern Egypt, 1:200; Exodus 12:22; Leviticus 14:4-51; Numbers 19:6; Numbers 19:18; Psalm 51:7). The reason why the soldiers presented to Christ a sponge attached to the end of a "reed" (calamus), with hyssop, was, as the vinegar would quench His thirst, so the aromatic scent of the hyssop would refresh Him. So it is associated with the fragrant "cedar wood" in Leviticus 14:4; Leviticus 14:6; Leviticus 14:51. So that the Greek "hyssop" and the origanum or marjoram of the Jewish tradition seem the plant intended. Gesenius includes under ezob the hyssop of the shops, and other aromatic plants, mint, wild marjoram, etc.; so that a suitable sprinkler could be always found, whether in Jerusalem or the desert.