“Blessed Hyssop” (John 19:30) Majorana Syriaca / English name: Hyssop
The hyssop shrub is not a thorn plant, so why is it included here? The answer lies in the episode of Jesus quenching his thirst on the cross with a sponge soaked in vinegar, and its connection with the “sacred herb.” In the spring, the hyssop’s flowers and small hairy leaves become sponge-like and able to absorb liquid. This feature connects this shrub to two passages in the Bible where hyssop is used as an absorbent for liquids. One of them is a passage in the Book of Exodus where it is described as the means of smearing blood on the doorposts of houses.
The other is the account in the New Testament of a Roman soldier dipping hyssop in vinegar and giving it to Jesus on the cross: “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19: 28-30).
Hyssop is a symbol of humility and purity, and thus this story obviously alludes to Jesus’ humility. This episode of imbibing vinegar on the cross, a paraphrase of Psalm (Psalm 51:7), is mentioned in all three Gospels (Matthew 27: 45-61; Mark 9: 33-47; Luke, 23:36) but only John includes the “sacred herb” in his version. This is not surprising, as it is well known that John adds meaning and makes effective use of situations of victimization. In this case he refers to the tradition that only hyssop dipped in blood can save one from death. What, after all, was the meaning of the blood smeared on the doorposts of the houses in Egypt? In return of the blood, man receives his life. With this blood, the angel of death grants life to others; thus, John’s mention of hyssop suggests that with his blood Jesus gives life to others and saves the world. Moreover, it would appear that John envisages the episode in the Book of Exodus as predicting the future events on the cross.
Hyssop is a symbolic plant, and it is twice mentioned together with cedar in the Bible: “and the priest shall take cedarwood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer” (Numbers 19: 6). The wisdom of Solomon, the wisest of men, was shown in his knowledge of all plants, from the prestigious cedar of Lebanon to the humblest lichen: “… And he spoke of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the lichen that grows out of the wall” (I Kings 4:33). (Botanically speaking, lichen grows together with algae, and it is sometimes grouped with algae and fungi and is not hyssop.)
Whereas the cedar was perceived as a symbol of pride and arrogance (being confined to certain climates) and reaches its full growth only after seventy years, the modest hyssop is a symbol of humility and frugality (not requiring much earth and water), and can thus grow even on walls. The hyssop is suited to the local climate in Israel and is beneficial to humanity, producing a pleasant fragrance and medicinal oil, and is considered “nature’s antibiotic,” owing to its antiseptic properties . It is also a popular herb called za’atar.
According to Jewish tradition, defamation “awards” the defamer with leprosy. In the Gemara, we find: ..”Reshi declared, this is the teaching about leprosy, this is the teaching about giving a bad name …” When the sick were healed from the disease, they were required to bring a branch of cypress and a branch of hyssop as a sacrifice to the Temple. The Sages interpret it thus: ‘the cedar, that is, the leper, has been afflicted for defaming others: how can he be healed? He must humble himself and become lowly, like a worm or like hyssop’ (Rashi, Leviticus).
As mentioned, we are familiar with hyssop from the story in the Book of Exodus where the Israelites were told to take hyssop and use it to smear the doorposts of their houses with blood in order to enable the angel of death to pass over them during the “plague of the firstborn.” Did the angel of death really need these signs? On the other hand, could not the use of hyssop itself be a call for humility before God who saved them from the plague of the firstborn? Here, one must of course refer the reader to the well-known story of David, who had sinned with Bathsheba, and in his need for purification begged: “…Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow…” (Psalm 51: 7). One should also note the way in which David uses the idea of hyssop in allusion to the Israelites’ use of the herb in applying the blood of the lamb to the doorposts of their houses.
Hyssop is one of the plants mentioned in the Bible whose identification has caused differences of opinion among botanists. The confusion was initially due to misunderstandings and errors in the translation of the Scriptures, mainly by Christian scholars. The name hyssop was mistakenly given to moss because of passages such as “the moss that springs out of the wall” and “if cedars have caught fire, what will the moss on the wall do?” (Tractate Moed Katan 25, 72). Ephraim Hareuveni was a botanist who maintained that hyssop was not moss and believed it was oregano. He demonstrated by his research that unlike in Europe, where mosses mainly grow on walls, here they can be plants that can reach the height of bushes (Ephraim Hareuveni and Hannah Hareuveni, Tarbitz 21(5710), pp. 40-46) (5710). However, many botanists today believe that hyssop is not oregano but marjoram.
Hyssop is a well-known herb as a component of the za’atar mixture and easily identified by its characteristically sharp fragrance. It is a smallish short shrub covered in small leathery gray leaves. Its efflorescence is rich in honeydew and lasts throughout the spring and summer months, attracting a variety of pollinators such as wild bees, flies and butterflies. Hyssop is regarded as a very common plant, and can be found in Mediterranean wastelands in most parts of the country, in uncultivated fields and stony and rocky ground. Although hyssop is considered a common plant, its importance as an herb has, over the past decades, led to its systematic commercial exploitation, making it endangered to such an extent that it has had to be declared a ‘protected plant’.
Local Arabs call the hyssop Za’tar; but they call numerous other herbs by the same name, including Savory, Thyme and Thymbra. They do not make any systematic distinction between these plants whose aromas and tastes resemble one another. Although local Arabs differentiated between the various herbs, they always lumped them together under the collective name of Za’tar. It has turned out to be neither this nor that – they use the name Za’tar also for the well-known spice comprising a mixture of sesame, salt and sumac.