Here it is in the King James Version of Scripture … “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.”

I suppose it’s a fact every farmer and gardener and maybe even homeowner should know. Snakes like such out of the way places. Hedges, walls, anywhere to hide.

But Ecclesiastes 10:8 is saying more than meets the eye. It almost looks like Solomon here is warning us about tampering with our hedges!

A “hedge” to an ancient mind meant any type of barrier or line of safety … to keep predators out and to keep loved ones in!

And in the spiritual realm, hedges and walls and barriers and lines of separation are absolute necessities!

The devil, in Job 1:10, even accused the Lord of building a “hedge of protection” around Job the faithful man of God.

Oh, how we need hedges today!

For our marriages!

Our families!

Our very own lives!

“Godly parameters,” one writer calls them.

Could it be that the devil, symbolized by the serpent of our Verse today, longs for us to cut down our hedges?

To compromise our standards, convictions, worldview?

Knowing full well, the devil does, that if we “break” those hedges … we expose ourselves to the venom of Satan!

Build some hedges today!

Let them grow!

And never, never break them down!

Out Text again … “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.”

Let the wise be warned!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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