There is much in the Bible which is purely symbolic in nature. This is especially true of things in the Old Testament and even more so in Old Testament prophecy. God spoke to His people through symbols, as a way of both concealing truths from those who were not prepared to understand and revealing those same truths to His people. Many of those truths were easily understood by the children of Israel in Old Testament times, because they came out of their culture and lifestyle. However, it can be much more challenging for us to understand them, because of differences between our modern culture and the culture found in the Bible.
There is even a difference between how these symbols are used in the Old Testament and the New. While there is still symbolic language in the New Testament, much of what is symbolic is depending on the symbolism used in Old Testament prophecy, rather than the symbolism that might have existed in the times when the New Testament was written.
Much of this symbolism has been lost to us today. While we still have symbolism in our language and society, those symbols are hidden in metaphorical sayings, where we don’t even recognize them for what they are. This makes it hard for us to understand the symbolic meanings of things we find in the Bible, even when it seems obvious that what we are reading must be symbolic in some way, because it cannot be understood any other way.
One of the keys to understanding any symbol in the Bible is to find where the Bible defines the symbolism of that word. Rule number one of Biblical hermeneutics (the interpretation of the Bible) is that the Bible defines itself. Therefore, it is necessary for us to seek out the meaning of anything that appears to be symbolic or that might be symbolic, by looking at the other places where the same word is used and seeing if they define the symbolism.
As we do this, we must keep in mind that no two languages translate perfectly. There may be more than one possible translation for any word we find in Greek or Hebrews. Likewise, there may be more than one word in the original language, which is translated as the same word in English. One very obvious example of this is the word “love,” in English, which could mean any one of five different types of love in ancient Greek and any one of four different types of love in ancient Hebrew.
So then, Just What is Hyssop?
To start with, hyssop is a bushy, aromatic plant, which is part of the mint family. It is native to the area surrounding the Mediterranean and Caspian seas, including the Holy Land; but has since been planted in other parts of the globe. The leaves are bitter and minty, containing medicinal properties which have allowed this plant to be used both in cooking and herbal medicine.
One of the most interesting things about this plant is that the stem is somewhat woody at the base, with branches growing off of it, pointing upwards. The stem “bleeds” water when it is cut, which is an important part of its symbolism, as we will shortly see.
We find hyssop mentioned a dozen times in the Bible, most often in relation to some sort of ritual purification. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the symbolism of this plant was associated by the Jews with purification from their sins and transgressions in some way. We might be tempted to assume that it doesn’t hold the exact same symbolism today, if it weren’t for the fact that two of those dozen times are in the New Testament, with one of them being related to the death of Jesus on the cross.
Hyssop and the Passover
Probably the most important references to hyssop involve the celebration of the first Passover and how that ties in with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Jewish Passover celebration came about from the events in the book of Exodus, where God was bringing plagues on the nation of Egypt, so that Pharaoh would let the people of Israel go. The last of these 10 plagues was the death of the firstborn of Egypt.
Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. – Exodus 11:4-5
But while God was going to kill the firstborn of Egypt, He was at the very same time going to rescue the children of Israel from that death and from being enslaved to the Egyptians. Therefore, He commanded that the Israelis kill a one-year-old male lamb, from either the sheep or goats, and that they prepare and consume that animal for their dinner (Exodus 12:3-6). The manner of that preparation was very specific (Exodus 12:8-11), symbolizing Christ on the cross. They were also to take the blood from the lamb and paint it on their doorposts and lintel, as a sign to the angel of death to “pass over” that home and not kill the firstborn.
And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin (the blood of the lamb) and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pas over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. – Exodus 12:22
It can be fairly said that the blood of those lambs protected the people of Israel from judgment and death. Had they not bothered to cover their doorposts and lintels with blood, as commanded, the destroyer would have entered into their homes and killed the firstborn.
This is where that detail about water coming out of hyssop is important. Since they used hyssop to put the blood on the doorposts and lintel and since they were striking the doorposts and lintel with that hyssop, the stalks of the hyssop world break. So, as the blood was being applied, water from the stalks of the hyssop was also being applied.
Passover is still celebrated today by practicing Jews. While all of the Jewish festivals were times of remembrance, reminding them of things that God had done for them, they also held a prophetic meaning. The Passover, in particular, was a prophetic telling of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus at the hand of the Romans. We also see blood and water in the death of Jesus Christ. As Jesus hung on the cross, after He died, a Roman soldier pierced his side with a spear, causing blood and water to flow out.
But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. – John 19:34
This shows that Jesus was already dead. Once someone dies, the heavier blood cells settle out of the blood plasma (the “water” or liquid part of the blood). When the soldier pierced His side with that spear, he obviously reached and pierced the pericardium, the fibrous sac that surrounds the heart. This allows us to know with certainty that He was already dead and that the pericardium was pierced; otherwise, only blood would have flowed out.
Hyssop for Cleansing
With this understanding about hyssop and how it symbolically relates to the death of Jesus, we can now go back to the Old Testament and see its meaning in the ritualistic cleansing that the Jewish people undertook.
There are a number of places where God commanded the Priests to use hyssop in cleansing rituals, especially in the book of Leviticus (which deals primarily with the priestly office and the duties of the priests). Knowing what we do about the Passover and Jesus’ death, it is easy to understand that each and every one of these instances is making reference, symbolically, to the cleansing that comes through the shed blood of Jesus. They were appropriating the blood of the Lamb, without truly understanding that they were doing so.
This is impossible for man; but quite possible for God. We must remember that God lives outside of time. He doesn’t need to wait for the crucifixion of His Son, to use that sacrifice for His purposes. God lives in the eternal Now and can therefore use what may seem to our human understanding as the future, in what seems to us as the past.
Therefore, when King David wrote Psalm 51, in repentance for his sin with Bathsheba and her husband, he was, in essence, appropriating the forgiveness that comes through the blood of Jesus. He didn’t know who Jesus was, nor did he understand the Gospel message; but by asking to be cleansed with hyssop, he was symbolically invoking the death of our Savior and Lord.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. – Psalm 51:7
We believers of New Testament times, tend to look at the Jews and think that they were saved by their obedience to the Law. If that is the case, none of them were saved; for no man is capable in and of himself of obeying all of the Law, except Jesus. That’s why He had to obey it, then be sacrificed on the cross for our sins. Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Galatians.
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. – Galatians 2:15-16
Salvation is For All
What hyssop says to us all, more than anything else, is that the cleansing blood of Jesus is available to all. We who are saved by the blood of Jesus, after His death and resurrection, are no different than those who were saved by his death and resurrection before it happened. In each and every case, it was the faith of the individual believer, in the saving sacrifice of Jesus, that has caused us to be saved.
Even Job recognized that he needed a redeemer to save him from his sin and that his redeemer lives.
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. – Job 19:25
How did Job know that he even had a redeemer? We have no way of knowing. Looking at his acts of worship, as mentioned in the first chapter of the Bible, it seems that he didn’t even fully understand the God that he served. Nevertheless, he knew enough to know that it was God who would redeem him and not himself. As we look through the story, we see that at the end, when he was confronted by God for the foolish things he had said, he recognized that he had only known about God, but that he finally was in a place where he truly knew God Himself.
I (Job)2 have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. – Job 42:5-6We can call these two verses “Job’s salvation moment,” for it is here that he fully recognizes his own lack and his need for God. His abhorrence of himself is the essence of repentance; allowing him to fully receive all that God had for him. That included the salvation bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. We know this, because “the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12).