Hedging
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.”
Matthew 23:23 (NKJV)
Formal gardens are intriguing. Neatly laid out garden plots, beds of fragrant herbs, mossy statues, rose-covered bowers, trickling fountains, espaliered fruit trees, stone benches tucked into quiet corners. And hedges. Yards and yards of closely clipped hedges. Painstakingly pruned shrubs winding along the edges of each path. Low boxwood hedges around the herb garden. Pretty topiaries in geometric shapes. High privet hedges ensuring seclusion.
The Pharisees of ancient Israel were into hedging, but not the kind that needed constant clipping. They put up hedges around the Law of God. In order to prevent the breaking of one of God’s commandments, traditions were established as a kind of buffer zone. For instance, if God’s law forbade the coveting of another man’s wife, then the men shrouded their women so that no man could look on them at all. They reasoned that you couldn’t lust after something you couldn’t see. This was the hedge they set up around God’s command. In this way, the Pharisees established a vast compendium of rules and regulations, and they prided themselves in knowing and keeping them all.
- The Pharisees went nose to nose with Jesus on several occasions over the keeping of the Law. Inevitably, Jesus got the better of the hypocrites. What did He accuse them of in Mark 7:13?
- What hypocrisy were the Pharisees guilty of, according to Matthew 23:23?
- The Pharisees confronted Jesus, thinking they could put Him on the spot. What transgression did they accuse His disciples of in Matthew 15:2?
- In the next verse, Jesus turns the tables by putting a pointed question to them. What does He ask in Matthew 15:3?
- There was the Law—God’s commandments found in Scripture—and then there were the traditions—a way of life handed down for generations. One pointed the way to righteous living. The other ensured the appearance of righteousness. Which did the Pharisees think was more important, according to Mark 7:8-9?
Let’s say God charged you to tend a small garden for Him. You accept the task with pleasure and begin puttering among the fruit trees, rose bushes, and vines. But then, you worry over whether the garden is safe from foraging animals, so you plant a hedge around it and work diligently at keeping it clipped. But the hedge doesn’t seem secure enough, so around that you build a fence. Then you have the brilliant idea of building a castle around the garden plot, making it a sheltered courtyard. Around the castle, a great wall is erected, with an iron gate to keep all away. Then you install a drawbridge and a moat, and ship in a bunch of crocodiles. You’ve make an impressive show of fulfilling God’s charge. Meanwhile, the fruit drops rotting from the trees, the roses are cankered, and the weeds are choking out the vines. The whole time you were busy protecting your garden plot, you were neglecting it. Do you think this is what God intended?
- In Philippians 3:4-6, Paul lists all the earthly reasons he had to be confident in his own righteous living. What did he have to boast about?
- What other tidbits about his former life does Paul tell us in Galatians 1:14?
- Paul, as Saul the Pharisee, had it all together. He was a rising star on the religious scene. He had a promising career ahead of him. But what did he think of all that, according to Philippians 3:7-8?
- No amount of hedging can ensure a righteous life. What does 1 Peter 1:18-19 say does and does not redeem us?
Digging Deeper
Not one of us can ever be improved in God’s eyes by what we do or don’t do. In order to dig a little deeper today, read Galatians 3:10-24. What does Paul say in these verses about the law, justification, and Christ?
Ponder & Pray
This would be a good time for some self-examination. Search your heart. Have you been trying to do the work that only grace can do? Have you been so busy protecting your image that you’ve neglected more important matters of the heart? It is the hidden person of the heart that God sees. No amount of hedging can change that.
Adapted with permission from Receiving God’s Goodness, ©2006 Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. To purchase a copy for yourself, click here.
