Hedge
Summary
Hedges in Scripture refer to protective barriers around vineyards, fields, and sheepfolds—made of stone walls, thorn bushes, or mud—and serve as metaphors for divine protection and human boundaries.
☩Physical Hedges
Several Hebrew words denote hedges or fences. Stone walls (gader) surrounded vineyards and fields to protect them from wild animals, often crowned with thorns to deter climbers. Such walls were favorite haunts of serpents hiding in the gaps. Similar enclosures (gederah) sheltered sheep in summer and winter. The loose stone walls around vineyards described by Maundrell in Palestine were sometimes partly covered with soil to support thorns or vines along the top.
☩Metaphorical Use
Scripture frequently uses hedge imagery metaphorically. God's protection is described as a hedge around His people—Satan complained that God had "made a hedge" around Job and his possessions. Conversely, removing the hedge signifies withdrawing protection, as when God declared He would break down the vineyard's hedge because it yielded wild grapes. Hosea warns that God would "hedge up" Israel's way with thorns to turn her from pursuing false lovers.
☩In the Parables
Jesus spoke of a householder who planted a vineyard and "set a hedge about it." In the parable of the great supper, servants were sent to "the highways and hedges" to compel people to come in—indicating that the poorest and most marginalized, even those living near the hedge-bordered roads, were invited to the feast.
Related Verses16 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Hedge," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Hedge," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Hedge," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).