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Some of us are wearing the living hedge of God’s Word for our formation, protection, and restraint,
and some of us are wearing dead leaves and hiding from God. 

(Isa 64:6)  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities [sins], like the wind, have taken us away.

SAUL’S ARMOR: THE HEDGE ABOUT HIM
FOR FORMATION, PROTECTION, AND RESTRAINT
WAS MAN-MADE FILTHINESS
(brass, the same material as Goliath’s armor)

(1 Sam 17:38,39)  And Saul armed David with his armour [height, stature: clothes, garment, raiment /// to stretch self (to make one’s self bigger, Saul’s covering = doctrine)], and he put an helmet of brass upon his head [filthiness (false doctrine, the traditions of men = sin: Saul’s thoughts)]; also he armed him with a coat of mail [of brass: filthiness (false doctrine, the traditions of men = sin: Saul’s heart)]. And David girded his sword upon his armour [David initially accepted Saul’s armor (covering, doctrine) as his own], and he assayed [began reluctantly] to go; for he had not proved [tested] it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved [tried] them [David then manifested the “noble” character of a Berean (Acts 17:10,11)]. And David put them off him [David loosed the bindings that Saul had placed upon him].

1.       (Job 1:9,10)  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him [to entwine, i.e. shut in (for formation, protection or restraint): fence], and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

2.       hedge = Dict: 1. a row of bushes or small trees planted close together, esp. when forming a fence or boundary.

3.       (Gen 3:7,8)  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons [a belt (for the waist): apron, armour, gird (-le) /// to gird on (as a belt, armor, etc.): be afraid, gird, X on every side]. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden [i.e. inside the church].

4.       Goliath was a wild beast (Gk: therion; a dangerous animal: venomous, wild beast: Rev 13:1) that was threatening the flock of God (“the armies of the living God” 1 Sam 17:26,36). Armor is a hedge about one’s self that in 1 Samuel 17 symbolizes doctrine, and brass is a hard metal that connotes “filthiness” in its Hebrew definition. In this present application, the brass armor that was made by men and not by God symbolizes false doctrine, as the context of 1 Samuel 17 clearly illustrates. King Saul “armed David with his armour” (1 Sam 17:38), but David wisely declined to face Goliath as a soldier (duties: to serve and destroy) under Saul’s covering (authority) for then the battle would have pitted Saul’s brass armor (physical - filthiness - doctrine) against Goliath’s brass armor (physical - filthiness - doctrine) or, man against man. Instead, David “put them off him” (1 Sam 17:39). David LOOSED the BINDING armor of Saul’s false doctrines, which are derived from the traditions of men (lies and misinterpretations of Scripture). Prior to this incident with Saul’s armor, David as a young lad had been trained up and prepared by God to be a shepherd (duties: to serve and protect). After this incident, David was fully armed by God (the five smooth stones) in the waters of the brook (Holy Spirit), and acted as a matured shepherd under God’s covering (authority) to face and defeat Goliath. Now “The Battle of Doctrines” was Truth (Eternal Spiritual Purity) against brass (temporal physical filthiness) or, God against man, “for the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Sam 17:47).

5.       (Gen 2:15)  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it [to serve it] and to keep it [to protect it].

6.       Please note the close commonality between the offices of a farmer and a shepherd. One serves and protects the crop of the field, and the other serves and protects the flock of the field. “The field is the world” (Mat 13:38). Chosen individuals in both offices of service are living hedges, instruments through which God provides His covering over other children of God, and are empowered by the living Word of God (Jesus Christ, the Bible: John 1:14), for the formation, protection, and restraint of their respective charges. David was indeed adorned with the living hedge of God’s Word, the invisible white robe of righteousness, but Saul was wearing a dead hedge of his own construction - fig leaves. David and others like him are “called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he [God] might be glorified [to gleam, embellish; fig. to boast; also to explain (i.e. make clear) oneself; to shake a tree: beautify, boast self, go over the boughs, glorify (self), glory, vaunt self].” (Isa 61:3).

WE ARE TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, TREES OF LIFE

Men are symbolized by trees in the Bible. Trees have leaves. For the unsaved, leaves relate to armor (fear); these trees are dead trees to God. For the saved, leaves are the glorious covering of the trees of righteousness; these trees are living trees to God, trees of life. 

(Psa 1:1-6)  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD [the Bible]; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

1.       planted = Heb: shathal, shaw-thal'; to transplant [10x vs. nata', naw-tah'; to strike in, fix; spec. to plant]

2.       wither = Heb: to wilt; to fall away, fail, faint; fig. to be foolish or (mor.) wicked; to despise, disgrace: disgrace, dishonour, lightly esteem, fade (away, -ing), fall (down, -ling, off), do foolishly, come to nought, X surely, make vile, wither. 

(Jer 17:7,8)  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

  WE ARE LEAVES ON THE TREE OF LIFE

(Rev 22:1-5)  And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [a sprout /// an offshoot, i.e. race or clan: kindred, tribe] were for the healing of the nations [ethnos; a race, a tribe; spec. a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually by impl. pagan): Gentile, heathen, nation, people]. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light [to shine or brighten up: enlighten]: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

WE ARE PILLARS (HEDGES) OF CLOUD AND FIRE

(Exo 13:21,22)  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light [illumination]; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. 

(Rev 3:12)  Him that overcometh [to subdue: conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory] will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 

(1 Ki 7:21)  And he [Solomon] set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.

1.       Jachin = Heb: he will establish

2.       Boaz = Heb: of uncertain meaning

3.       However, throughout the book of Ruth, Boaz was a wonderful type and shadow of Jesus Christ. Hebrew reads from right to left.

Amen