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Pharisees were masters, even though they did not originate the famous, or infamous, “building of a hedge around the law.” By heaping more and more strict laws on top of those given by God Himself, they sought to insulate the Law and protect themselves from its violation.
Marty Duren has sparked a driving conversation along a similar theme atSBC Outpost. I offer my thoughts here.
The problem with building a hedge around the law is that the hedge often becomes the new law. Pharisees would chastise the violation of the Jewish “hedge” law as if it were from the mouth of God. When the hedge become the law, a new hedge ensues, to keep us from violating the new law. We then begin a process by which we move further and further into a web of restriction from which we have little hope of escape.
We also become a barrel of crabs with our fellow hedge builders. Have you ever seen a barrel of crabs? If one begins to have success in climbing out of the barrel, the others pull it back in. We do that, too.
The ironic part is that we all build hedges ourselves, and for good reasons. We quote Scriptures such as, “flee temptation” and rightfully avoid positions that can lead to our destruction. I edit the websites I peruse, the shows I watch and the movies I enjoy because certain themes are a temptation for me.
The difficulty lies in when we apply our personal and reasonable hedges to others. When my personal temptation avoidance practices are applied to others, I become a hedgebuilder in a very unhealthy way.
I am not arguing for a mobile line of demarcation as to what is right and what is wrong. There is not “situational truth.” However, beyond what Scripture declares to be morally true, my personal hedges are my own and for my own good. They ill fit anyone else.
Rather, they become a destructive burden to them and to me. They destroy them by heaping upon them manmade traditions – which are unattainable and for which Christ did NOT die. We destroy ourselves by becoming judges, for which we were never suited, and thus become twisted perversions of that for which Christ did die – chaining ourselves to this false law instead of being set free to glorify God.
Note To David, (and everyone) I obviously did not write this.
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Hedge Laws, Hedge Laws
