Topical Encyclopedia
In biblical literature, the term "hedge" is used both literally and metaphorically, appearing in various contexts throughout the Scriptures. A hedge, in its literal sense, refers to a fence or boundary made of bushes or thorny plants, serving as protection or a barrier. Metaphorically, it signifies divine protection, separation, or judgment.
Literal UsageIn the agrarian society of ancient Israel, hedges were commonly used to protect vineyards and fields from animals and intruders.
Isaiah 5:5 illustrates this usage: "Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled." Here, the hedge represents a protective barrier that, when removed, leaves the vineyard vulnerable to destruction.
Metaphorical Usage1.
Divine Protection: The concept of a hedge as divine protection is vividly portrayed in the book of Job. In
Job 1:10 , Satan acknowledges God's protective hedge around Job: "Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land." This passage highlights the belief that God places a spiritual hedge around His faithful, safeguarding them from harm.
2.
Separation and Judgment: Hedges also symbolize separation and divine judgment. In
Ezekiel 13:5 , the prophets are criticized for failing to stand in the gap or build a hedge for the house of Israel: "You did not go up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel, so that it would stand firm in battle on the day of the LORD." Here, the hedge represents a spiritual barrier that should have been erected to protect the people from impending judgment.
3.
Moral and Spiritual Boundaries:
Proverbs 15:19 uses the imagery of a hedge to describe the path of the sluggard: "The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway." This metaphor contrasts the difficulties faced by the lazy with the smooth path of the righteous, suggesting that moral and spiritual discipline creates a clear and unobstructed way of life.
Theological ImplicationsThe imagery of a hedge in the Bible underscores the importance of divine protection and the consequences of its removal. It serves as a reminder of God's sovereignty and the need for spiritual vigilance. The hedge as a symbol of protection and separation calls believers to trust in God's providence while maintaining moral and spiritual boundaries in their lives.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
HedgeThe Hebrew words thus rendered denote simply that which surrounds or encloses, whether it be a stone wall,geder , (Proverbs 24:31;Ezekiel 42:10) or a fence of other materials. The stone walls which surround the sheepfolds of modern Palestine are frequently crowned with sharp thorns.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (
n.) A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden.
2. (v. t.) To enclose or separate with a hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or thicket of shrubs or small trees; as, to hedge a field or garden.
3. (v. t.) To obstruct, as a road, with a barrier; to hinder from progress or success; -- sometimes with up and out.
4. (v. t.) To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in).
5. (v. t.) To surround so as to prevent escape.
6. (v. i.) To shelter one's self from danger, risk, duty, responsibility, etc., as if by hiding in or behind a hedge; to skulk; to slink; to shirk obligations.
7. (v. i.) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.
8. (v. i.) To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
HEDGEhej:
(1) mecukhah, "a thorn hedge," only inMicah 7:4.; mesukkah, "a hedge" (Isaiah 5:5); mesukhath chadheq, "a hedge of thorns" (Proverbs 15:19).
(2) gadher, and geherah, translated "hedges" in the Revised Version (British and American) only inPsalm 89:40, elsewhere "fence." GEDERAH (which see) in the Revised Version margin is translated "hedges" (1 Chronicles 4:23).
(3) na`atsuts, "thorn-hedges" (Isaiah 7:19).
(4) phragmos, translated "hedge" (Matthew 21:33Mark 12:1Luke 14:23); "partition" inEphesians 2:14, which is its literal meaning. In the Septuagint it is the usual equivalent of the above Hebrew words.
Loose stone walls without mortar are the usual "fences" around fields in Palestine, and this is what gadher and gedherah signify in most passages. Hedges made of cut thorn branches or thorny bushes are very common in the plains and particularly in the Jordan valley.
E. W. G. Masterman
Greek
5418. phragmos -- a fencing in, a fence... a fencing in, a fence. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: phragmos
Phonetic Spelling: (frag-mos') Short Definition: a
hedge, fence, partition
...4060. peritithemi -- to place around
... to place around. From peri and tithemi; to place around; by implication, to present --
bestow upon,hedge round about, put about (on, upon), set about....
Strong's Hebrew
4534. mesukah -- ahedge... 4533, 4534. mesukah. 4535 . a
hedge. Transliteration: mesukah Phonetic
Spelling: (mes-oo-kaw') Short Definition:
hedge. Word Origin
...7753. suk -- tohedge or fence up or about
... 7752, 7753. suk. 7754 . tohedge or fence up or about. Transliteration: suk
Phonetic Spelling: (sook) Short Definition:hedge. Word Origin a prim....
4881. mesukah -- ahedge
... 4880b, 4881. mesukah or mesukah. 4882 . ahedge. Transliteration: mesukah or
mesukah Phonetic Spelling: (mes-oo-kaw') Short Definition:hedge....
4905a. mesukkah -- ahedge
... mesukkah. 4905b . ahedge. Transliteration: mesukkah Short Definition:hedge.
Word Origin from an unused word Definition ahedge NASB Word Usagehedge (1)....
5480b. suk -- tohedge or fence about, shut in
... 5480a, 5480b. suk. 5481 . tohedge or fence about, shut in. Transliteration:
suk Short Definition: enclosed. Word Origin a prim....
4905. maskiyl -- ahedge
... 4904, 4905. maskiyl. 4905a . ahedge. Transliteration: maskiyl Phonetic
Spelling: (mas-keel') Short Definition: Maschil. Maschil...
1447. gader -- a wall
... fence,hedge, wall. From gadar; a circumvallation; by implication, an inclosure --
fence,hedge, wall. see HEBREW gadar. 1446, 1447. gader. 1448 ....
5526. cakak -- to overshadow, screen, cover
... cover, defense, defend,hedge in, join together, set, shut up Or sakak
(Exod. 33:22) {saw-kak'}; a primitive root; properly, to...
1448. gederah -- a wall
...hedge, wall. Feminine of gader; enclosure (especially for flocks) -- (sheep-)
cote (fold)hedge, wall. see HEBREW gader. 1447, 1448....
1443. gadar -- to wall up or off, to build a wall
... close up, fence up,hedge, enclose, make up a wall, mason, repairer. A
primitive root; to wall in or around -- close up, fence up...
Library
Hedge
...Hedge.Hedge, Frederick Henry, a Unitarian divine, professor and author
of note, was born at Cambridge, Mass., December 12, 1805....
TheHedge of Thorns and the Plain Way
... TheHedge of Thorns and the Plain Way.... "The way of the slothful man is as anhedge
of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.""Proverbs 15:19....
PMFHHedge. Strength from the Cross.
... IV. REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 141. PMFHHedge. Strength from the Cross. 1
"It is finished!" Man of sorrows! From thy cross our frailty...
The Burial and Assumption of the Blessed virgin
... They dug a trench before the narrow entrance of the rock-tomb, and planted in it
ahedge of various shrubs brought with their roots from elsewhere....
In Reply to the Questions as to his Authority, Jesus Gives the...
... There was a man that was a householder [this party represents God], who planted
a vineyard [this represents the Hebrew nationality], and set ahedge about it...
Psalm XCI.
... Nets are usually spread for birds at the end of ahedge, and stones are thrown
into thehedge: those stones will not harm the birds....
Ephesians ii. 11, 12
... The law was ahedge, but this it was made for the sake of security, and for this
reason was called "ahedge," to the intent that it might form an inclosure....
Fences and Serpents
... '... Whoso breaketh anhedge, a serpent shall bite him.'"Ecclesiastes 10:8.... Young
men! 'whoso breaketh anhedge, a serpent shall bite him.'....
A Provision Ground
... And that?' Let the reader who has a taste for the beautiful as well as the useful
in horticulture, do the same, and look in fancy over thehedge of the nearest...
Interruption of the visions of the Passion by the Appearance of St...
... dreamed, as her exclamations and gestures demonstrated, that she was once more a
little country girl of five years old, climbing over ahedge, caught in the...
Thesaurus
Hedge (12 Occurrences)... 2. (vt) To enclose or separate with a
hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or
thicket of shrubs or small trees; as, to
hedge a field or garden.
...HEDGE.
...Thorn-hedge (1 Occurrence)
Thorn-hedge. Thorn-fence, Thorn-hedge. Thorn-hedges . Multi-Version
Concordance Thorn-hedge (1 Occurrence). Micah 7:4...
Hedge-hog (2 Occurrences)
Hedge-hog. Hedgehog,Hedge-hog.Hedge-rows . Multi-Version Concordance
Hedge-hog (2 Occurrences). Isaiah 34:11 And possess...
Hedge-rows (1 Occurrence)
Hedge-rows.Hedge-hog,Hedge-rows. Hedges . Multi-Version Concordance
Hedge-rows (1 Occurrence). Luke 14:23 "'Go out...
Hedgehog (3 Occurrences)
... Isaiah 34:11 And possess her do pelican andhedge-hog, And owl and raven dwell in
her, And He hath stretched out over her A line of vacancy, and stones of...
Fence (12 Occurrences)
... ERV has "fence" for "wall" (Numbers 22:24 Isaiah 5:5 Hosea 2:6; the American Standard
Revised Version retains "wall"), for "hedge" (Ecclesiastes 10:8 Ezekiel 13...
Watchtower (9 Occurrences)
... There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set ahedge
about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers...
Winepress (19 Occurrences)
... There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set ahedge
about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers...
Farmers (23 Occurrences)
... There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set ahedge
about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers...
Take (11064 Occurrences)
... food or wine. 16. (vt) Not to refuse or balk at; to undertake readily;
to clear; as, to take ahedge or fence. 17. (vt) To bear...
Resources
What is a hedge of protection? | GotQuestions.orgWhat is transcendentalism? | GotQuestions.orgDoes Satan have to get God's permission before he can attack us? | GotQuestions.orgHedge: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
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