Psalm 51 (Day 23): Hyssop

I greet you, my friend, on this twenty-third morning of my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday scheduled for June 8 this year. Pentecost is a gracious reminder of the day when the Counselor and Comforter Jesus promised -- the Holy Spirit of the living God -- came and rested on the early followers of Christ.

That you and I can be individually guided by the Holy Spirit is a gift beyond compare!
To God be the glory; great things He has done!

Sweet Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on my mind and heart this morning as I reflect upon the truths of Your holy Word. Feed me that others may be fed through my pen and voice today. In Jesus' glorious name, I pray. Amen! 

The Holy Spirit is guiding me these fifty (50) days to dwell upon Psalm 51, a psalm of confession and repentance that David wrote after being confronted by the Father through Nathan, the prophet. So far, I have read and pondered the psalm heading and the first six verses:

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

When the prophet Nathan came to him

after David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

"Have mercy on me, O God,

according to Your unfailing love;

according to Your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions

and my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only have I sinned

and done what is evil in Your sight,

so that You are proved right when You speak

and justified when You judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inner parts,

You teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

Moving forward on the road of grace through Psalm 51, I find myself blown away by the richness of verse 7, which reads,

"Cleanse me with hyssop,

and I will be clean;

wash me,

and I will be whiter than snow."

Yesterday, I pondered the reason for David's repeated request. Today, I am led to focus on the word "hyssop" -- considered by David as an agent of cleansing.

Hyssop is not a term I use in regular conversations yet it was a common herb that was readily available in Middle Eastern gardens during biblical times. A simple Google search reveals, in fact, that it is still widely cultivated in our day in numerous parts of the world, even in our own backyard. It resembles grown catmint, possessing beautiful petals and a strong minty fragrance.

In David's time, hyssop was generally used because of its highly detergent properties. In fact, the Bible records its usage in purifying and protecting specific items and people.

One such example is the account found in Exodus 12:22 detailing how the Lord purified and protected the lives of the Israelites from the angel of death through a bunch of hyssop dipped in the basin of blood of the Passover lamb and used to apply said blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe of each Israelite house. In Leviticus 14:1-8, divine instructions were given for hyssop to be the dipping agent into the blood of a bird and used to sprinkle over a leper as part of a cleansing ceremony intended to provide restitution to unclean persons.

Perhaps, more importantly, it was used on the cross, as explained in John 19:29,

"A jar of wine vinegar was there, 

so they soaked a sponge in it, 

put the sponge on a stalk of hyssop plant, 

and lifted it to Jesus' lips." 

That instance was recorded in the Passion account as evidence of the messianic qualifications of Christ.

David's choice of hyssop reveals his desire for true, deep cleansing. It unveils his earnest desire to obey God. It points back to the protective element of the Passover lamb's blood dipped in hyssop. It reflects the ceremonial cleansing practice of the time to reinstate a leper into the community. It foreshadows salvation through Christ Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb whose shed blood provides purification and protection for all who believe.

"The Holy Heart was broken,

Sent from the Father's side.

The Son of God forsaken,

The holy sacrifice.

For me He was forsaken,

For me He died alone.

My sins forever taken

That I might be His own.

The Holy Lamb was stricken,

Abandoned and alone.

He bore the world's affliction,

He bore it as His own."

The Holy Heart, Anne Barbour & Marsha Skidmore

What a gracious choice!

A choice that purifies.
A choice that protects.
A choice that provides.

O Christ,

Holy Lamb of God,

You freely chose the way of suffering.

You tasted the hyssop-flavored vinegar drink.

You became the very sponge placed upon the stalk

of the ultimate hyssop plant -- the shameful cross adorning Golgotha.

Indeed, being lifted high on the tree of death, You finished all the work

the Father intended for You on this earth so that one such as I -- a most guilty one --

might

be

free

to enter

into eternal life.

All praise, honor be to You,

my Rock

and

my Redeemer.

Amen!