Correspondence: Hyssop Dipped in Blood
• 1 min. read • grade level: 5
Ans. The hyssop pictures man's littleness, as the cedar pictures his greatness. (1 Kings 4:3333And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. (1 Kings 4:33).) From the greatest to the least, man by nature is nothing for God. All that he is, is ended in the death of Christ; this is seen in the sacrifices. (Lev. 14:4, 6, 49, 51, 524Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: (Leviticus 14:4)
6As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: (Leviticus 14:6)
49And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: (Leviticus 14:49)
51And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: 52And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: (Leviticus 14:51‑52); Num. 19:6,186And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. (Numbers 19:6)
18And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: (Numbers 19:18).)
In dipping the hyssop in the blood and sprinkling the doorpost, it is as if the Israelite said: I am only a worthless sinner; Christ is everything. His blood is my shelter from the judgment of God which my sins deserve.