Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:22

And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip [it] in the blood that [is] in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that [is] in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

22. hyssop ] A small plant, growing out of walls (1Ki 4:33), a wisp of which was well adapted for sprinkling, and is accordingly prescribed to be used in various purificatory rites (Lev 14:4; Lev 14:6; Lev 14:49-51, Num 19:6; Num 19:18 [Heb 9:19 ]: cf. Psa 51:7). What plant the ‘hyssop’ is, is, however, disputed; but it is in any case not our hyssop ( Hyssopus officinalis, Linn.), which is not a native of Palestine. Saadiah (10 cent.) rendered by a‘tar, i.e. some species of satureia, or (as Kimchi explains) origanum, marjoram; so also Abul-Walid, Maimonides, Kimchi; and this explanation is adopted by Ges., Di., and others. The Pesh. zupha also means the same plant (Lw, Aram. Pflanzennamen, No. 93) 1 [129] . Post ( DB. s.v.) thinks that the particular species meant is the Origanum Maru, Linn. This grows in clefts of rocks, in chinks of old walls, and on the terrace walls throughout Palestine: it has straight, slender, leafy stalks, with small heads, several of the stalks growing from one root, so that a bunch or wisp suitable for sprinkling a liquid with could readily be broken off. Tristram ( NHB. 456 ff.) argues in favour of the Caper ( Capparis spinosa), a bright green creeper, which climbs out of fissures of rocks in the Sinaitic valleys, and hangs in abundance from the walls of Jerusalem, and the stalks of which, bearing from three to five blossoms each, would likewise be suitable for the same purpose; but the former interpretation has very strong support in ancient tradition, and there appears to be no sufficient reason for deserting it 1 [130] .

[129] In the Talm. ( Shabb. 109 b ), also, the Heb. ’zb is identified with the Arab. sumsa, or marjoram.

[130] The Arab. ’aaf, which Tristram ( NHB. 457) quotes in support of the caper, does not correspond phonetically to the Heb. ’zb. In support of marjoram, see esp. Lw’s learned discussion in the Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy (phil. and hist. Classe), 1909, Abh. III.

Joh 19:29 (where Mat 27:48 = Mar 15:36 have ) does not seem to have any bearing on the question which plant is meant. Different traditions may have been current; or the term ‘reed’ may have been used widely to denote the stalk of either marjoram, which may reach to 3 ft. (Lw, p. 16), or the caper.

strike the lintel with, &c.] rather, apply some of the blood to (lit. make it draw near to or touch, as Exo 4:25) the lintel &c.

and none of you, &c.] So as to enjoy the protection of the house sprinkled with the blood. A direction not contained in vv. 1 13.

door ] Heb. entrance (lit. opening). So v. 23, Exo 26:36, and often.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

A bunch of hyssop – The species here designated does not appear to be the plant now bearing the name. It would seem to have been an aromatic plant, common in Palestine and near Mount Sinai, with a long straight stalk and leaves well adapted for the purpose of sprinkling.

Bason – The rendering rests on good authority and gives a good sense: but the word means threshold in some other passages and in Egyptian, and is taken here in that sense by some versions. If that rendering be correct it would imply that the lamb was slain on the threshold.

None … shall go out … – There would be no safety outside the precincts protected by the blood of the lamb; a symbolism explained by the margin reference.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. A bunch of hyssop] The original word ezob has been variously translated musk, rosemary, polypody of the wall, mint, origanum, marjoram, and HYSSOP: the latter seems to be the most proper. Parkhurst says it is named from its detersive and cleansing qualities, whence it was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb, in cleansing the leprosy, Le 14:4; Le 14:6; Le 14:51-52; in composing the water of purification, Nu 19:6, and sprinkling it, Nu 19:18. It was a type of the purifying virtue of the bitter sufferings of Christ. And it is plain, from Ps 51:7, that the psalmist understood its meaning. Among botanists hyssop is described as “a genus of the gymnospermia (naked-seeded) order, belonging to the didynamia class of plants. It has under-shrubby, low, bushy stalks, growing a foot and a half high, small, spear-shaped, close-sitting, opposite leaves, with several smaller ones rising from the same joint; and all the stalks and branches terminated by erect whorled spikes of flowers of different colours, in the varieties of the plant. The leaves have an aromatic smell, and a warm pungent taste. The leaves of this plant are particularly recommended in humoral asthmas, and other disorders of the breast and lungs, and greatly promote expectoration.” Its medicinal qualities were probably the reason why this plant was so particularly recommended in the Scriptures.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

A bunch of hyssop; so the Hebrew word is rightly rendered, as appears from Heb 9:19.

The door of his house, i.e. of the house wherein he did eat the passover, which ofttimes was his neighbours house: see Exo 12:4.

Until the morning; till the beginning of the morning after midnight, and after the slaughter of the Egyptians first-born; which may reconcile those scriptures that seem to contradict one another, while some affirm they went out of Egypt by night, and others by day, for they went out in the morning very early when it was yet dark, as it is expressed in a like case, Joh 20:1.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

22. hyssopa small red moss[HASSELQUIST]; thecaper-plant [ROYLE]. Itwas used in the sprinkling, being well adapted for such purposes, asit grows in bushesputting out plenty of suckers from a singleroot. And it is remarkable that it was ordained in the arrangementsof an all-wise Providence that the Roman soldiers shouldundesignedly, on their part, make use of this symbolical plant toChrist when, as our Passover, He was sacrificed for us [Joh19:29].

none . . . shall go out atthe door of his house until the morningThis regulation waspeculiar to the first celebration, and intended, as some think, toprevent any suspicion attaching to them of being agents in theimpending destruction of the Egyptians; there is an allusion to it(Isa 26:20).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop,…. Which some take to be “mint”, others “origanum” or “marjoram”, as Kimchi s, others “rosemary”, as Piscator, Rivet, and many more; and indeed this seems to be fitter to strike or sprinkle with than hyssop; but it is more generally understood of hyssop, because the Hebrew word “ezob” is so near in sound to it; though whether it means the same herb we call hyssop is uncertain: Jarchi says, three stalks of it are called a bunch, and so the Misnic canon runs t,

“the command concerning hyssop is three stalks (which Maimonides on the place interprets roots), and in them three branches;”

which some have allegorically applied to the Trinity, by whom the hearts of God’s people are sprinkled with the blood of the true paschal Lamb, and are purged from dead works: the Heathens in their sacrifices used sometimes branches of laurel, and sometimes branches of the olive, to sprinkle with u:

and dip it in the blood that is in the basin: which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, was an earthen vessel, into which the blood of the lamb was received when slain, and into this the bunch of hyssop was dipped; so it was usual with the Heathens to receive the blood of the sacrifice in cups or basins x: the blood being received into a basin, and not spilled on the ground and trampled on, may denote the preciousness of the blood of Christ, the true passover lamb, which is for its worth and excellent efficacy to be highly prized and esteemed, and not to be counted as a common or unholy thing; and the dipping the bunch of hyssop into the blood of the lamb may signify the exercise of faith on the blood of Christ, which is a low and humble grace, excludes boasting in the creature, deals alone with the blood of Jesus for peace, pardon, and cleansing, and by which the heart is purified, as it deals with that blood:

and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that [is] in the basin: an emblem of the sprinkling of the hearts and consciences of believers with the blood of Christ, and cleansing them from all sin by it:

and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning; that they might not be in the way of the destroyer; and though the destroying angel knew an Israelite from an Egyptian, yet this was to be the ordinance of protection to them, abiding in their houses, marked with the blood of the passover lamb; signifying that their safety was in their being under that blood, as the safety of believers lies in their being justified by the blood of Christ; for to that it is owing that they are saved from wrath to come: this is the purple covering under which they pass safely through this world to the heavenly glory, Ro 5:9, this circumstance was peculiar to the passover in Egypt; in later times there was not the like danger.

s Sepher Shorash, rad. . t Misn. Parah, c. 11. sect. 9. u Vid. Kipping. Rom. Antiqu. p. 241. Virgil Aeneid. 6. Ovid. Fast. l. 5. x “————-tepidumque cruorem Succipiunt pateris———-” Virgil. Aeneid. 6.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(22) A bunch of hyssop.The hyssop (zob) of the Old Testament is probably the caper plant, called now asaf, or asuf, by the Arabs, which grows plentifully in the Sinaitic region (Stanley: Sinai and Palestine, p. 21), and is well adapted for the purpose here spoken of. It was regarded as having purifying properties (Lev. 14:4; Lev. 14:49-52; Num. 19:6; Psa. 51:7), and was therefore suitable for sprinkling the blood of expiation.

In the bason.The word translated bason has another meaning also, viz., threshold; and this meaning was preferred in the present place both by the LXX. and by Jerome. Whichever translation we adopt, there is a difficulty in the occurrence of the article, since neither the threshold nor any bason had been mentioned previously. Perhaps Moses assumed that whenever a victim was offered, the blood had to be caught in a bason, and therefore spoke of the bason as something familiar to his hearers in this connection. If the lamb had been sacrificed on the threshold, it would scarcely have been necessary to put the blood on the lintel and doorposts also.

None of you shall go out.Moses seems to have given this command by his own authority, without any positive Divine direction. He understood that the Atoning blood was the sole protection from the destroying angel, and that outside the portal sprinkled with it was no safety.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

22, 23. Hyssop This has not been mentioned before . The hyssop included several species of herb, but that used in Egypt was, according to Kimchi and Maimonides, wild marjoram, an aromatic plant and condiment much used by the poorer classes in Egypt for food .

None of you shall go out at the door Only within the blood-besprinkled door was safety .

The destroyer Whether angel or pestilence, could not pass the line drawn in blood. Each sanctuary home in Israel was thus made a symbol of the fold whereof Christ is the door, and only behind hiswounds can sinful man be safe from the destroyer.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments