16 Mar Purging Hyssop אֵזוֹב

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7

It’s easy to skim over David’s words, “purge me with “hyssop” אֵזוֹב(ezov),” and completely miss the Holy Spirit tapping us on the shoulder. Hyssop is a plant with a Gospel history. Ezov was used to paint the blood of the Passover lamb over the Israelites’ doors in Egypt (Exod. 12:22), to sprinkle a cleansing concoction over a leper (Lev. 14), and to purify a person who had come into contact with a corpse (Num. 19). Captivity, leprosy, and death—all three summarize what David did with his life. He impregnated the wife of one of his trusted warriors and then murdered him in a perfect storm of depravity, abuse, and egotism.He needed God to take hyssop in hand and sprinkle him with atoning blood. His soiled soul, black as midnight, needed to be made white as wool.

While God’s Son was hanging between heaven and earth, his lips were touched by “a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch” (John 19:29). Immediately after, he said, “It is finished” (v. 30). Hyssop finally touched the divine Passover Lamb himself. He bore our captivity, our leprosy, our death. In him, we and David, and all the world, are purged, cleansed, washed, and made white as wool. Though our sins are like crimson, O Lord, make them white as wool in Jesus’ blood (Isa. 1:18).

This devotion is taken from the book by: Chad Bird, Unveiling Mercy: 365 Daily Devotion Based on Insights from the Old Testament Hebrew.

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