Hyssop

Hyssop was a small, bushy herb whose stems were sturdy enough to use as a brush, which is exactly how it was used at the first Passover — dipped in lamb’s blood and swept across doorframes so the destroyer would pass over. Centuries later, a soldier used the same plant to lift a vinegar-soaked sponge to a dying man on a cross.

• “And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.”

  Exodus 12:22

• “Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.”

  John 19:29

An instrument of protection and cleansing, from the blood swept across Israel’s doorposts (Exodus 12:22) to the ceremonial washing of the unclean.

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