Psalm 69 (Douay-Rheims Psalm 68), the psalm of zeal already fulfilled at the Temple cleansing, contains the sufferer's meal: 'And they gave me GALL for my food, and in my thirst they gave me VINEGAR to drink' (69:21).
Both elements appear at Calvary, distinctly. Before the nails: 'they gave him wine to drink mingled with GALL. And when he had tasted, he would not drink' (Matthew 27:34) — the customary stupefying draught, refused so that the sacrifice would be offered awake. Near the end: 'Jesus saith: I thirst. Now there was a vessel set there full of VINEGAR. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, put it to his mouth' (John 19:28–30) — and John says why: 'that the scripture might be fulfilled.'
John's detail of the HYSSOP branch carries its own weight: hyssop was the plant prescribed for sprinkling the Passover lamb's blood on the doorposts (Exodus 12:22). At the moment the true Lamb finishes His Passover, the little plant of the first Passover reappears — then 'he said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.'