hyssop · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
clean
וְאֶטְהָ֑רve.'et.Har
H2891
to be pure (physical sound · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular
wash
תְּ֝כַבְּסֵ֗נִיte.kha.be.Se.ni
H3526
to trample · verb, piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
whiter
אַלְבִּֽין'al.Bin
H3835
to be (or become) white · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
snow
וּמִשֶּׁ֥לֶגu.mi.She.leg
H7950
snow (probably from its whiteness) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us…
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red lik…
Hebrews 9:13-14 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Numbers 19:18-20 And 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…
Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and sc…
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him t…
Exodus 12:22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blo…
Ephesians 5:26-27 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 51:7-13
I. See here what David prays for. Many excellent petitions he here puts up, to which if we do but add, "for Christ's sake," they are as evangelical as any other.
1. He prays that God would cleanse him from his sins and the defilement he had contracted by them (Psa 51:7): "Purge me with hyssop; that is, pardon my sins, and let me know that they are pardoned, that I may be restored to those privileges which by sin I have forfeited and lost." The expression here alludes to a ceremonial distinction, that of cleansing the leper, or those that were unclean by the touch of a body by sprinkling water, or blood, or both upon them with a bunch of hyssop, by which they were, at length, discharged from…
A series of prayers for forgiveness and purifying.
Purge . . . hyssop--The use of this plant in the ritual (Exo 12:22; Num 19:6, Num 19:18) suggests the idea of atonement as prominent here; "purge" refers to vicarious satisfaction (Num 19:17-20).
John Gill on Psalms 51:7
Purge me with hyssop,.... Or "thou shalt purge me with hyssop" (f); or "expiate me"; which was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb on the door posts of the Israelites in Egypt, that the destroying angel might pass over them, Exodus 12:22; and in the cleansing of the leper, Leviticus 14:4; and in the purification of one that was unclean by the touch of a dead body, &c. Numbers 19:6; which the Targum on the text has respect to; and this petition of the psalmist shows that he saw himself a guilty creature, and in danger of the destroying angel, and a filthy creature like the leper, and deserving to be excluded from the society of the saints, and the house of God; and that he had re…
Psalm 51:7-9
7. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; and the bones which thou hast broken shall rejoice. 9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
7. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop He still follows out the same strain of supplication; and the repetition of his requests for pardon proves how earnestly he desired it. He speaks of hyssop [266] , in allusion to the ceremonies of the law; and though he was far from putting his trust in the mere outward symbol of purification, he knew that, like every other legal rite, it was instituted for an important end. The…
The Church Fathers
After this white robes were given to you as a sign that you were putting off the covering of sins and putting on the chaste veil of innocence, of which the prophet said, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow." For one who is baptized is seen to be purified according to the law and according to the gospel: according to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; according to the gospel, because Christ's garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel he showed forth the glory of his resurrection. One, then, whose guilt is forgiven is made whiter than snow. Thus God said through Isaiah: "Though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow."
"You shall sprinkle me," he says, "with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed" [Psalm 51:7]. Hyssop we know to be a herb humble but healing: to the rock it is said to adhere with roots. Thence in a mystery the similitude of cleansing the heart has been taken. Do thou also take hold, with the root of your love, on your Rock: be humble in your humble God, in order that you may be exalted in your glorified God. You shall be sprinkled with hyssop, the humility of Christ shall cleanse you. Despise not the herb, attend to the efficacy of the medicine. Something further I will say, which we are wont to hear from physicians, or to experience in sick persons. Hyssop, they say, is proper for purging the lungs. In the lung is wont to be noted pride: for there is inflation, there breathing. It was said of Saul the persecutor as of Saul the proud, that he was going to bind Christians, breathing slaughter: [Acts 9:1] he was breathing out slaughter, breathing out blood, his lung not yet cleansed. Hear also in this place one humbled, because with hyssop purged: "You shall wash me," that is, shall cleanse me: "and above snow I shall be whitened." "Although," he says, "your sins shall have been like scarlet, like snow I will whiten." [Isaiah 1:18] Out of such men Christ does present to Himself a vesture without spot and wrinkle. [Ephesians 5:27] Further, His vesture on the mount, which shone forth like whitened snow, [Matthew 17:2] signified the Church cleansed from every spot of sin.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Hyssop — (Heb. ‘ezob; LXX. hyssopos), first mentioned in Ex. 12:22 in connection with the institution of the Passover. We find it afterwards mentioned in Lev. 14:4, 6, 52; Num. 19:6, 18; Heb. 9:19. It is…
Purification — The process by which a person unclean, according to the Levitical law, and thereby cut off from the sanctuary and the festivals, was restored to the enjoyment of all these privileges. The great…
Snow — Common in Palestine in winter (Ps. 147:16). The snow on the tops of the Lebanon range is almost always within view throughout the whole year. The word is frequently used figuratively by the sacred…
White — A symbol of purity (2 Chr. 5:12; Ps. 51:7; Isa. 1:18; Rev. 3:18; 7:14). Our Lord, at his transfiguration, appeared in raiment “white as the light” (Matt. 17:2, etc.).
Ablution · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Cleanliness · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Conscience · GUILTY — GUILTY
Conviction · OF SIN — OF SIN
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Homicide · DAVID’S REPENTANCE FOR, AND CONFESSION OF, THE MUR — DAVID’S REPENTANCE FOR, AND CONFESSION OF, THE MUR
The possession of all possessions, however, most needed by him, the foundation of all other possessions, is the assurance of the forgiveness of his sins. The second futures in Psa 51:9 are consequents of the first, which are used as optatives. Psa 51:9 recalls to mind the sprinkling of the leper, and of one unclean by reason of his contact with a dead body, by means of the bunch of hyssop (Lev. 14, Num. 19), the βοτάνη καθαρτική (Bhr, Symbol. ii. 503); and Psa 51:9 recalls the washings which, according to priestly directions, the unclean person in all cases of uncleanness had to undergo. Purification and washing which the Law enjoins, are regarded in connection with the idea implied in the…
Purify me from my sins (literally Purify me with the hyssop branch; see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4; John 19:29; Heb 9:19): The psalmist depends on God to purify and renew him (see Isa 1:18).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 51:7
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Purge me with hyssop. Sprinkle the atoning blood upon me with the appointed means. Give me the reality which legal ceremonies symbolise. Nothing but blood can take away my blood stains, nothing but the strongest purification can avail to cleanse me. Let the sin offering purge my sin. Let him who was appointed to atone, execute his sacred office on me; for none can need it more than I. The passage may be read as the voice of faith as well as a prayer, and so it runs—"Thou wilt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." Foul as I am, there is such power in the divine propitiation, that my sin shall vanish…
Regeneration · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Remorse · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sin · . — .
Snow · .Of purity — .Of purity
Washing · .Of regeneration — .Of regeneration
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
