Hizzah: SPRINKLED with Life

SPRINKLE: nazah/yiz/hizzah, verb (Strong’s 5137). Primitive root: hizzah הִזָּ֨ה

When you think of big Bible words, sprinkling probably doesn’t come to mind. However it was a prevalent action taken during Temple sacrifices:

• Moses sprinkled Aaron and his sons with oil and blood to consecrate their duties as priests (Exodus 29:21)
• A sacrificial bull was slaughtered for a sin offering and its blood was sprinkled seven times in front of the veil of the sanctuary (Lev 4:6, 17)
• Sin offering was sprinkled on the altar and the rest was drained at the base of the altar (Lev 5:9)
• The priest was to eat the sin offering and if any blood splashed/sprinkled on the priestly garment it needed to be washed out (Lev 6:27)
• Before consecrating Aaron and his sons, Moses sprinkled the altar with the consecrating oil (Lev 8:11). Then Moses sprinkled the altar and Aaron and his sons with blood and oil (Lev 8:30)
• To cleanse a leper they needed to be sprinkled with blood of the sacrifice seven times and then the leper was to wash off the blood(Lev 14:7)
• Priests were to sprinkle the oil seven times before YHWH (Lev 14:16, 27)
• The leprous house was to be sprinkled seven times with sacrificed blood and water (Lev 14:51)
• Law of Atonement called on the priests to sprinkle the blood of the sacrificed bull on the Mercy Seat and in front of the Mercy Sea (Lev 16:14)
• Law of Atonement:  the blood of the goat offered as a sin offering was ti be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat and in front of the Mercy Sea (Lev 16:15)
• Law of Atonement: the priests were to take the blood of the bull and the goat and sprinkle it on the altar seven times, then cleanse it and consecrate it (Lev 16:19)
• Purified water was to be sprinkled on the Levites (Num 8:7)
• The blood of the red heifer was to be sprinkled seven times towards the tent of meeting (Num 19:4)
• If a corpse had been touched one would have to purify themselves by the sprinkling of water. If not, they would remain unclean (Num 19:13)
• To purify a tent in which someone has died, a hyssop branch would be dipped into water and sprinkled on the tent, the furnishings, the people in the tent, and the one who touched the body. This was to be repeat this on the third day and on the seventh day (Num 19:18-19)
• If the unclean did not have the water of impurity sprinkled on them, they remained unclean (Num 19:18-19)
• The person who sprinkled the water of impurity onto the unclean was to wash his clothes.  They would remain ritually unclean until evening (Num 19:21)

Sprinkling of blood, water, and/or oil was a big part of the religious system for the Jewish faith. It was a physical action involved in consecrating kings and priests, purifying the ritually unclean, and atoning (or covering) people’s sins. The sprinkling of substitute blood (of an animal), in particular, was deemed necessary to pay for the sins of the people. In a life-for-a-life society, someone had to pay… with blood. The little lamb (or goat or heifer) took the punishment on behalf of the people.

Sprinkled for Nothing

Blood is life. Without it, there is no living. It is a sacred and an essential part of every human being, and the people of ancient Israel were very aware of is importance.

There is only one time where the word for sprinkle was not associated with Temple sacrifices which suggests that, by choosing this word, the author was making a statement. It is found in the story of queen Jezebel. This wicked queen knew her days were numbered. The army had turned against her:

2 Kings 9:30-37

When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it, and she put makeup on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked down through the window. As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is your intention peace, Zimri, his master’s murderer?” 

Then he raised his face toward the window and said, “Who is with me, who?” And two or three officials looked down at him.

Then he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered [wa-yyiz וַיִּ֨ז] on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot. When he came in, he ate and drank; and he said, “See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.”

So they went to bury her, but they found nothing of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. Therefore they returned and informed him. And he said, “This is the word of YHWH, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung on the face of the field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, “This is Jezebel.””

Jezebel was a very different kind of sacrifice. Her life-blood did not cleanse the unclean; it did not consecrate anything; it did not atone for anyone’s sins, including her own. It was blood spilt for no purpose other than the removal of evil. Jezebel’s blood sprinkled stone and beast, but it did no lasting good to anyone. The Messiah’s blood, on the other hand, would cover all the nations. It would atone for the sins of the people; it would cleanse them from all unrighteousness; and it would consecrate them as citizens of YHWH’s Kingdom.

It’s an important lesson: You’re a child of God so make your life-blood mean something!

The Sprinkle of Redemption

Isaiah prophesied that YHWH’s Servant would be lifted up, marred, and that his blood would sprinkle across the nations:

Isaiah 52:13-15

[YHWH:] Behold, My Servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were appalled at you, My people, so His appearance was marred beyond that of a man, and His form beyond the sons of mankind.

So He will sprinkle [yazzeh יַזֶּה֙] many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what they had not been told, they will see, and what they had not heard, they will understand.

Isaiah also envisioned YHWH’s tunic stained with blood:

Isaiah 63:1-9

Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colours from Bozrah, this One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength?

[YHWH:] “It is I, the One who speaks in righteousness, mighty to save.”

Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads in the wine press?

[YHWH:] “I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no one with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled [w-yez וְיֵ֤ז] on My garments, and I stained all My clothes. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me. I trampled down the peoples in My anger and made them drunk with My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

I will make mention of the mercies of YHWH, and the praises of YHWH, according to all that YHWH has granted us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has granted them according to His compassion and according to the abundance of His mercies. For He said, “Certainly they are My people, sons who will not deal falsely.” So He became their Saviour.

In all their distress He was distressed, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

This image of YHWH’s tunic sprinkled with blood was a reminder of the Mosaic law insisting that if a priest, who was consuming the sacrifice of sin, sprinkled any blood on his garment it needed to be washed out (Lev 6:27). YHWH provided a redeemer, a cleanser of blood, to make clean the stain that sin left behind. The Messiah, YHWH’s Angel of His Presence, saved the people. He would lift and carry them to the Presence of YHWH. By His deeds we are made clean… and worthy to enter the throne room of God.

John the Baptist undoubtedly had this in mind when he cried out,  “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

The author of the letter to the Hebrews emphasized the connection between sprinkling blood and Yeshua’s redemptive act of sacrifice. Yeshua’s death on the cross was the final sacrificial sprinkling of blood over the people:

Hebrews 9:11-27; 10:19-25

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling  [Greek: rhantizousa] those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the violations that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a covenant, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when people are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 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 [Greek: erantisen] both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the Covenant which God commanded you.” And in the same way he sprinkled [Greek: erantisen] both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these things, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him…

…Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let’s approach God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled [Greek: rherantismenoi] clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Yeshua did not just cleanse and redeem us by His blood, He consecrated us to be part of His family… forever forgiven, forever loved.

Next week: Sky Stuff