“Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched (made camp) between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.

And Saul and the men of Isreal were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle array against the Philistines.

And the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Isreal stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.” I SAMUEL 17: 1-3

This is a very familiar story, the geta battle between David and Goliath, but I want us to look at it in spiritual application to our lives and the giants we face.

I want us to specifically look at the meanings of the places this battle was starting to wage.

Notice that the enemy had gathered themselves together on Judah’s own land. This is how the enemy comes to attack our bodies, our minds, wages attacks through avenues that he has no right to even be privy to.

Areas that he should not have any access to or to be allowed any right of entry to those areas.

First, we will look at the two areas the enemy was located between.

Shochoh and Azekah: Shochoh literally means fence, hedge. Think of that as the fence that the Lord has around his sheep, his children in the spirit realm.

Mention of hedges, let’s check out another classic passage:

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed (avoided) evil.

And there was born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest (wealthiest) of all men of the east.

And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually.

Now there was a day when the sons (servants) of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou (where did you come from)? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

The Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear the God for nought (nothing)?

Hast not thou made a hedge about him (Haven’t you hedge around him) and his house, and about (around) all that he hath on every side?  Thou hast blessed (you have blessed) the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand (do not kill him). So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.”  JOB 1:1-12

God removed the hedge, click her to read more of Job’s story. 

Job endured and was blessed more after the attack in his life than prior to it, the enemy had bragged that Job only served God because of the blessing and goodness shown to him and that if that were taken away, he would turn on God, but Job served the Lord because he loved the Lord and proved the enemy wrong.

I wanted us to think about the hedge, the next name of the place that the enemy camped between is Azekah, which means to “dig over”, or “to hoe”.

This one is often used in scripture as the enemy digging pits, traps for the righteous and you can see it here as the enemy is positioned on Judah’s own land. 

Spiritually that would be digging and destroying that hedge, causing problems and causing the guard to be let down.

Now we know how the enemy got there and where the battle will take place.

These two locations were located in Ephesdammim, the most significant of the names, we will get to that one in a bit.

Saul and his men camped by the valley of Elah, this one literally means the valley of strength and endurance.

We have the enemy encroaching on property that does not belong to them, by tearing down hedges, and digging down, hoeing the earth making inroads for their attack.

For us this means that we must always be aware and diligent to protect ll areas of our lives and faithful search out possible breaches in our spiritual hedges.

First and foremost, ask the Lord, to reveal any and all areas of weakness in that hedge, he is faithful, he will lead us, and he will guide us to any issues in our lives or thinking that need resolved and he is the consummate mender of fences.

I am a big believer in journaling, we can identify and understand many of our torments by openly and honestly writing them to ourselves, no fear of judgment from others, no need to apologize when our feelings may not always be sunshine and positivity and this is a good way of ridding ourselves of troubling thoughts that left unattended will absolutely poison the water the Lord wants to send through us. (we’ll be looking at that in a future post). 

The biggest benefit is that we can understand when these issues started and we can find positive ways to resolve them.

Such as if it isn’t broke don’t fix and if something hasn’t been working in our life for years, it is time to change some things.

Relationships failing, honestly look at where that relationship started, when it went downhill and decide if it is worth saving or is it a season that has passed, you know like a friendship formed during a different season or time in life and the common denominators have all now changed and there is nothing in common.

Something worth the fight, list new ideas, new adventures, ways to reconnect, rekindle, and remember all the reasons that makes that relationship worth saving.

It is a good way to determine in your own private honesty what needs awakened in life and what just needs to be allowed to die in peace, because it is essentially already dead.

I think we all struggle with that sometimes, we feel like God should just intervene in our lives and make it what we want to be, and he certainly can, and he does, when we are saved, he does truly make all things new, new life, new thoughts, new desires.

But we still have freewill and having freewill, it is up to us to determine, through prayer and careful, thoughtful consideration the changes needed to get out of those emotional valleys we often feel trapped in.

Now it’s time for our segment “Really Bad Analogies with Chicky”.

Think of it exactly like this: If I am having troubling walking because my shoe is full of rocks, every step is painful and aggravating because those rocks are hurting my foot and hindering my walk, (take that spiritually)

Instead of stopping and taking off my shoe and shaking out those rocks, I just keep reaffirming to myself that my shoe is full of rocks, it hurts and makes it hard to walk but keep right on trying to walk with a shoe full of rocks, never trying to shake the rocks out of my own shoe.

 I really couldn’t complain because it is my responsibly to get the rocks out of my own shoe.

God does take care of the supernatural, but we have freewill to take care of the natural.

He will intervene when we ask, and we should certainly seek his will and even ask him for thoughts and suggestion in our hearts in dealing with the changes we need to make and believe me he will.

He will put remedies in your heart concerning areas of your life that you never thought possible.

But we have to ask, and we have to be receptive, and we have to desire true change and be willing to surrender and let go of things that are dead and things that are not working in our lives, it really is like walking with that shoe full of rocks, it hurts to move and you can’t walk straight, you have no peace and no joy because of the pain and you’ll never be able to move fast enough to get where it is that you want to go.

So we see where we can be spiritually, the enemy huffing and puffing, having digged over the hedge, which can happen many ways. 

But nevertheless, that valley that we find ourselves in can  be a valley of growth.

As the valley in Song of Solmon, there are attributes and beauties we only acquire in those valleys.

Spiritual fruit only found in the valleys.

I have used it often because it truly is one of the most encouraging thoughts, to know and to understand that what you are feeling today is not going to last forever and that time spent in those lowlands is not wasted and that you not coming out of this hard place empty handed. 

The fruit you gain in that valley will be lasting fruit that you will find very useful when faced with another valley in another time.

Not available on the mountaintops, not available by the brook, fruit only found while walking through the valleys.

You can be assured that you will come out of that valley with strength and endurance.

We will be coming back to the story of David and Goliath, Lord’s will, in our next post and check out a couple more concepts.

I want to end this with the best definition of all these.

Judah’s land that the enemy had unrightly breached as they camped between Shochoh (hedge) and Azekah (dig over) was located in Ephesdammim, which literally means Boundary of Blood.

Dig that, the Boundary of Blood, spiritually the Blood Line.

As the Hebrews applied the blood of Passover lamb to their door posts and the death angel passed by them, we know that through the New Covenant Jesus, became the Passover Lamb for all mankind

The blood of Christ, the blood of the Lamb, is the spiritual boundary line, and no enemy can come against or defeat the blood, we must plead it, believe in it, and stay behind and under it.

REVELATION 1:5: “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”

Check you “property”, mend your fences, meaning secure any area the enemy could use and get it under the blood, ask the Lord to strengthen the hedge and plead the blood, and watch out for those rocks!

Peace & Love, please join me next time and thank you for reading! Have a Blessed Labor Day!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2025/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson