Hedge

HEDGE hej:

(1) mecukhah, "a thorn hedge," only in Micah 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 in Psalms 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 21:33; Mark 12:1; Luke 14:23); "partition" in Ephesians 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

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'HEDGE'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.