Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HYSSOP

In biblical usage a plant of uncertain identity. The caperbush (Capparis spinosa L.) is one of several candidates. It often grows in the crevices of walls, it would sprinkle liquid well, and its branches can be quite long. The Syrian hyssop (Origanum syriacum L.), which grows on rocks in Egypt and Israel, is also a possibility, as are some varieties of marjoram (Origanum maru). In any case, biblical hyssop is not European hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.), which does not grow in Egypt or Israel. Many scholars have suggested that Heb. ʾēzôḇ refers to a number of plants and that the LXX rendering hýssōpos may have been an error due to the similarity of their sounds. The plant referred to as hyssop at John 19:29 may instead be Jerusalem corn (Sorghum vulgare var. durra [Forsk.] Dinsm.).

The Israelites used hyssop to daub blood on their door posts for the Passover (Exod. 12:22). Other passages associate hyssop with cleansing (e.g., Lev. 14:4, 6, 49-52; Num. 19:6; Ps. 51:7[MT 9]). Solomon knew of “the hyssop that grows in the wall” (1 Kgs. 4:33 NRSV). John notes that Jesus, while on the cross, sipped sour wine from a sponge raised on a branch of hyssop (John 19:29), but Matthew and Mark describe it as a reed (Gk. kálamos; Matt. 27:48; Mark 15:36).

Bibliography. H. N. Moldenke and A. L. Moldenke, Plants of the Bible (1952, repr. New York, 1986); M. Zohary, Plants of the Bible (London, 1982).

Megan Bishop Moore

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HYSSOP

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)