What was the significance of hyssop?

[tonychanyt]

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Hyssop was a plant mentioned several times in the Bible.
During the first Passover in Egypt, the Israelites were instructed to use a bunch of hyssop to smear the blood of the lamb onto their doorposts. Ex 12:

21 Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

This application of the Passover lamb's blood symbolized protection and deliverance from the plague of the firstborn.
Le 14:

6 [The priest] shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field.

In this cleansing ritual, the priest soaked hyssop in blood and sprinkled it on a formerly leprous person. Similarly, a priest would cleanse a house dwelling (v 51).
Hyssop was burned in red heifer ritual. The ashes were used to make a special purification water.
Psalm 51:

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

He 9:

19 When every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.”

These usages of the hyssop foreshadowed the sacrifice of Christ.
John 19:

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

1. In the Exodus, hyssop was used to smear lamb’s blood on doorposts during the Passover, protecting the Israelites from the Angel of Death. Jesus’ death occurs during the Passover festival. He’s called "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). The hyssop linked his sacrifice to the Passover lamb, signaling deliverance from death. He died in our place.
2. Jesus’ death cleanses humanity’s sin (1 John 1:7). The hyssop reminded us of his role as the tool for purification.
3. With the red heifer parallel, ashes + hyssop = purification from death’s defilement. Jesus' death saves us from eternal death.

What was the significance of hyssop?
It is connected to Jesus' death on the cross. It showed up just before Jesus died. It symbolized Passover liberation, sacrificial fulfillment, and purification from sin and death. Just as hyssop was used in the Passover to protect the Israelites, Jesus becomes the ultimate Passover Lamb whose blood brings salvation and redemption.

 

[Clare73]

I see hyssop as a type of the Holy Spirit who applies the benefits of the atoning sacrifice.