RE: The Arma Christi [General discussion]
-JKP- > 19-08-2019, 08:36 PM
So the plant that is in Arma Christi illustrations is identified by historians as hyssop.
The Hyssop we know has long graceful stalks, small leaves in rosettes along the stem, and a long flower spike with delicate violet-blue flowers. It's a fragrant somewhat shrubby Mediterranean/Caspian plant sometimes used for tea.
In the Middle Ages, it was sometimes confused with Ros Marinus (which we call Rosemary, a plant that also has small leaves and longish stalks).
Sideritis hyssopifolia is also somewhat similar to Hyssop, with long flower stalks and small leaves.
The "hyssop" of the Bible was used for ceremonial cleansing but its identity is disputed and it may not be the plant we call Hyssop. A couple of examples:
Hebrews 9:
"For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, "THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.""
Exodus 12:
"Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. "You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning."
From John 19, we get the connection to the Arma Christi:
"After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth."