hedge Summary and Overview

The Hebrew words thus rendered denote simply that which surrounds or encloses, whether it be a stone wall, geder, #Pr 24:31; Eze 42:10| or a fence of other materials. The stone walls which surround the sheepfolds of modern Israel are frequently crowned with sharp thorns.

HEDGE , Hos 2:6. Travellers tell us that such hedges as are mentioned in this passage are often found in Eastern countries at this day, and that they are especially useful as defences against the incursions of the Arabs on horseback. The hedge is sometimes figuratively used to denote protection. Comp. Job 1:10.

geder and mesukah. It was customary to surround vineyards with a wall of loose stones or mud, often crowned with thorns to keep off wild beasts; so Israel fenced by God (Psalm 80:12; Matthew 21:33). The haunt of serpents (Ecclesiastes 10:8; "whoso breaketh an hedge a serpent shall bite him," i.e., maliciously pulling down his neighbour's hedge wall he brings on himself his own punishment; Deuteronomy 19:14; Amos 5:19), and of locusts in cold weather (Nahum 3:17), "which camp in the hedges in the cold day (the cold taking away their power of flight), but when the sun ariseth ... fleeaway;" so the Assyrian hosts shall suddenly disappear, not leaving a trace behind. Maundrell describes the walls round the gardens of Damascus, they are built of great pieces of earth hardened in the sun, placed on one another in two rows, making a cheap, expeditious, and in that dry country a durable wall. Isaiah (Isaiah 5:5) distinguishes the "hedge" (mesukah) and the "wall" (geder); the prickly tangled "hedge" being an additional fence (Micah 7:4). Proverbs 15:19, "the way of the slothful is as an hedge of thorns"; it seems to lain as if a hedge of thorns were in his way (Proverbs 20:4; Proverbs 22:13; Proverbs 26:13), whereas all is clear to the willing. The narrow path between the hedges of vineyards is distinct from the "highways" (Luke 14:23; Numbers 22:24).