11/13/2013 HYSSOP
Exodus 12:22-23 Drain the lamb's blood into a basin, and then take a cluster of hyssop branches and dip them into the lamb's blood, and strike the hyssop against the lintel above the door and against the two side panels, so that there will be blood upon them, and none of you shall go outside all night. For JEHOVAH will pass through the land and kill the Egyptians; but when HE sees the blood upon the panel at the top of the door and on the two side pieces, HE will pass over that house and not permit the Destroyer to enter and kill your firstborn. [Living Bible translation]
Psalms 51:7,10 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow...Create in me a pure heart, O GOD, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. [New International Translation]
In Biblical times herbs were used for their culinary qualities, their medicinal qualities and they sometimes had spiritual significance. For example when GOD instituted Passover as a memorial meal so that Jewish people throughout all generations would remember what HE did for them when HE brought them out of slavery and from annihilation under Egyptian rule and tyranny, GOD instructed Moses and Aaron to use a number of herbs. The "bitter herbs" for example in the meal were symbolic of the bitterness and harshness of the slavery the people suffered.