Whiter than Snow

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

Hyssop, in Biblical times, was a small, light-weight bush growing to a height of twelve to twenty-four inches. It is mentioned in the Bible as a plant that is dipped in the basin of blood of the Passover Lamb. The blood on the hyssop was sprinkled on the door posts and the lintel over the door of the houses if the Israelites. God declared, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” (Exodus 12:13, 21-24)  The blood was used to sprinkle blood on the altar in other worship ceremonies also.

David’s use of the word “hyssop” in our text was not just referring to the plant, but its significance as the applicator of the sacrificial blood. The blood of the Passover Lamb and the blood of the many other sacrificial animals in the Old Testament were looking forward in faith to that day when the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ would shed His blood on a cross outside Jerusalem.

David was praying in faith to God, knowing the Son of God would one day shed His precious blood for Him just as the blood of the Passover Lamb had been shed for deliverance of the Jews on that first Passover evening. David knew the necessity of the blood of the Lamb as well as the absolute sufficiency of it.

I think of the song, “What can wash away my sin?” The answer is, “Nothing, but the blood of Jesus.”