Some people view this hedge of protection as part of spiritual warfare.
The idea of a hedge of protection likely comes from Job 1:10 which says, “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land."
Have you prayed for God to place his “hedge of protection” around you? Do you think this is a biblical concept?
Read more here: What Is a Hedge of Protection?
The foundational text is ~Job 1:10 where Satan says to YHWH that He has śuk (to hedge, to fence in, to enclose) Job and his household, and the verb śuk carries the image of a tight protective thorn wall that keeps predators out and preserves what is inside. The text portrays divine protection as something God Himself actively places around a covenant servant, and the syntax shows Satan acknowledging that he cannot break that boundary without divine permission. This is not Job building a hedge but God Himself acting. The same imagery appears again in ~Job 3:23 where Job laments that God has śakak (to hedge, to weave around, to cover) his path, the verb śakak being used elsewhere to describe protective overshadowing.
A powerful parallel is ~Psalm 34:7 where the verb ḥanah (to encamp, to pitch a protective military camp) describes the Angel of YHWH encamping around those who fear Him, and the participle shows continuous protective presence. This is one of the clearest Old Testament pictures of divine protection functioning not merely as a fence but as a military perimeter. The same verb appears in ~Psalm 125:2 where YHWH is said to surround His people as the mountains surround Jerusalem, the Hebrew sāvav meaning to encircle completely.
In ~Psalm 91 we are shown several protective verbs. Verse 1 uses yashav (to dwell) and verse 4 uses sākhakh (to cover) and ḥāsāh (to take refuge). Verse 11 adds the verb shāmar (to guard) showing an active divine guarding of the righteous. The psalm culminates in God saying He will palat (to rescue), shāgag (to protect), anāh (to answer), and kābēd (to honor) the one who clings to Him. This psalm is a full theology of God’s protective presence.
In ~Zechariah 2:5 God declares that He Himself will be a ḥōmāh (wall) of fire around Jerusalem, and the verb hāyāh shows God personally constituting Himself as that wall. This is arguably the strongest hedge image in Scripture because it shows not a figurative fence but God’s own presence forming a fiery perimeter.
The idea also appears negatively when God removes the hedge. ~Isaiah 5:5 says God will sūr (to remove) the geder (hedge) and pārats (to break through) the wall, demonstrating that protection had been real and tangible. This supports the concept that when the hedge remains in place enemies cannot enter.
In the New Testament the vocabulary changes but the protective idea remains. In ~John 17 the context is indeed the Apostles, yet the verbs Jesus uses describe divine preservation in a way that is still connected to all believers through apostolic doctrine. In ~John 17:11 He prays that the Father would tēreō (to guard, to preserve unbroken) them in His Name. The same verb is used again in verse 12, and Jesus says He guarded them, egō etēroun, imperfect durative showing continuous action. While directed to the Apostles in immediate context, the theology of God preserving His people through His Word is extended to those who believe through their message in verse 20.
In ~John 10:28 Jesus uses the verb harpazō (to snatch) in negation, saying no one is able to snatch His sheep out of His hand, and the syntax makes the negation absolute. This is divine nonbreachability, not merely moral encouragement. It is metaphoric but grounded in divine power, showing that Christ’s hand forms an unbreakable boundary.
In ~2 Thessalonians 3:3 Paul says the Lord will stērizō (to strengthen, to make immovable) and phylassō (to guard, to keep watch as a soldier) His people. The verbs paint a military protective image very similar to Psalm 34.
In ~1 Peter 1:5 Peter says believers are phroureō (to guard with a garrison) by the power of God through faith. This is the strongest New Testament protection verb, literally used of soldiers guarding a fortress with weapons drawn. The concept of divine hedge is therefore present in explicit verbal form.
In ~Ephesians 6 Paul describes spiritual warfare, and the verb histēmi (to stand) and the repeated imperative endyō (to put on) the armor of God assume divine enabling protection. The shield of faith is said to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one, so the imagery is again a protective perimeter.
In ~Matthew 6:13 Jesus teaches us to pray that the Father would rhuomai (to rescue, to deliver from danger) from the evil one. This is active divine protection, not passive resignation.
So is the hedge of protection biblical. …. but the biblical hedge is not a formula or catchy phrase. It is the sovereign act of God guarding His covenant people, often described with verbs of encircling, covering, guarding, rescuing, and garrisoning.
The hedge is God Himself.
Nowhere are believers told to build their own hedge.
Not one text presents it as a ritual formula. It always flows from trust, obedience, and faith.
Having said this… it makes me wonder how many believers actually grasp that God has given us a full panoplia of armor, yet we are the ones who must take it up and put it on with deliberate obedience and steady faith.
Thanks for yet another oppertunity to post here.
J.
Show me an AI that can do that ! ! ! He’s so life like.
@Inmate [Moderator]
Johann in the “flesh”, and if you want, we can dive even deeper, just say the word and I will take you there.
J.
Have you prayed for God to place his “hedge of protection” around you? Do you think this is a biblical concept?
To me it sounds more like wishful or even magical thinking. Ephesians chapter six seems to describe what is needed to “stand”. It does not seem to describe what is needed to avoid.
Well zed brother @timf and there is another catchy phrase…“Pleading the blood”
Scriptural?
J.
Interesting query
I understand what this phrase in question means, or at least what it is supposed to mean, as it is used in the bible, as @Johann has pointed out. Personally, I rely heavily on The Lord’s declaration that He is a discerner of the heart; that He “searches the heart”, and that He, “The Spirit makes intercession for the saints”.
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)
When a saint uses this phrase in prayer or parlance, their actual intent and inner thoughts are well known to our Loving Father, and he hears the inaudible utterance of their heart. Human listeners only hear the audible words, and are prone to ascribe meaning to them based on their own experiences. As humans, we could be nearly right, or we could be very wrong, but God always hears precisely, and knows unequivocally what is real. I suppose, if when the phrase is heard “it sounds more like wishful or even magical thinking” that is a more accurate reflection on the personal experience of the hearer than an accurate depiction of the heart of the speaker, (IMHO) because it is the hearer who is ascribing their meaning to something that cannot accurately be ascertained.
I suppose a saint can utter this metaphorical phrase and sincerely mean something very close to what was meant by those who used it in the Bible (Job 1:10, 3:23, Ps 80:12, Ps. 89:40, Ps 139:5, Lament 3:7, Hos 2:6, etc). I suppose it could also be used as some sort of an incantation, silly wish fulfillment, false piety, showmanship, or even something magical. I have no way of knowing.
Personally, I love the metaphor, I have used it in the past, and appreciate it’s intended use by the ancient authors of the bible. I find no prohibition of speaking this metaphorical phrase in the same application as they.
KP
Since you tagged me @KPuff I need to be honest that I do not disagree with the verses you quoted, I disagree with the way you handled the exegesis of them, just offering my two cents.
J.
Got it. Thanx for sharing. I know I’m sometimes hard to understand, and I’m sure I may present an idea in ways that other’s would not. I’d be interested in your exegesis of the passage to see where it differs from what I said, if you are willing.
Thanx
KP
Talking about this.
(Job 1:10, 3:23, Ps 80:12, Ps. 89:40, Ps 139:5, Lament 3:7, Hos 2:6, etc). I suppose it could also be used as some sort of an incantation, silly wish fulfillment, false piety, showmanship, or even something magical. I have no way of knowing.
Personally, I love the metaphor, I have used it in the past, and appreciate it’s intended use by the ancient authors of the bible. I find no prohibition of speaking this metaphorical phrase in the same application as they.
But I’m not here to “taco”
Shalom.
J.
Sorry, my bad english.
I should have been more clear by writing:
“I suppose some folks may actually erroneously employ the phrase as some sort of an incantation, silly wish fulfillment, false piety, showmanship, or even something magical. I have no way of knowing.”
Is that clearer? I was NOT implying it could legitimately be used in these ways. Is that what you thought I was saying? If so, “my bad!”
Thanx for your attention to accuracy
KP
Oh my!
Heading to the gym now, “my bad”
J.
“Pleading the blood”
Scriptural?
It sounds catchy, but I would ask, “plead of whom” and for what. If we are in the body of Christ and already have our sins forgiven, there would seem to be little left to plead for which the blood of Christ would be necessary.
People are often lured into some action of work by which they can feel they are participating. Sadly, this is often an appeal to the flesh and actually takes people further from Christ than walking by the Spirit.
My thoughts exactly.
J.
So good. Going to be pondering this all day. Thank you for sharing!
This is a concept that I would avoid like the plague. Problem one is the human population, compared to the number of that things seed. If this is to curb a spiritual attack, there is greater than 10 billion fallen since they do not have God power, and will do the two witness approach to most of what they do. Spit in the face of God, and expect God to just understand if something goes sideways? They will want a witness if they are making a straight on attack. Evil events come from evil people, and their free will would not be automatically included. Second, evil could not reach the woman in the wilderness, so it went after her children. It would not be feasible to protect everything, and everyone, that matters. Just me, but in this day and age when the population is this high, things are still going to be rocky, and people would be blaming God even more than they do now, when it happens.
We can trust that our God is concerned with our small needs, our big needs, and everything in between. Will He keep us from experiencing hardship? Well our model, in Christ, suggests that’s not the case–He will preserve us, but we live in a broken world, there will be times of famine, times of wilderness–but He is there, He will not forsake us.
Hardships can come in so many different forms. Most of them will be natural–we get sick, we experience loss, we can’t pay the bills, we go through many troubled waters. Can hardships be spiritual as well? The stories we find in Scripture, and in the lives of the many saints who came before us say yes–but God remains faithful. He will never abandon us, forsake us, turn away from us. Our God is with us. Even when the devil casts his most diabolical arrows at us, we have refuge in Christ, who keeps us, claims us, knows us, and preserves us.