◄ 2337. chavach ►
Lexical Summary
chavach: To hide, to conceal

Original Word: חָוָח
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: chavach
Pronunciation: khaw-vakh'
Phonetic Spelling: (khaw-vawkh')
KJV: thicket
Word Origin: [perhaps the same as H2336 (חוַֹח - thorn bush)]

1. a dell or crevice (as if pierced in the earth)

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
thicket

Perhaps the same as chowach; a dell or crevice (as if pierced in the earth) -- thicket.

see HEBREW chowach

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
the same as choach, q.v.

Topical Lexicon
The word family and its pictorial power

Though the root חָוָח (Strong 2337) itself does not surface in the Hebrew text, related nouns formed from it supply vivid pictures—dense thorn-hedges that bar passage and curved hooks or rings driven through a creature’s nose or jaw. These paired images, rugged and pastoral, frame a single theme: restraint. The thicket restrains the intruder; the hook restrains the beast.

Agricultural and social backdrop

In the dry hill country of ancient Israel, thorn-bush enclosures were a poor man’s fence. Branches were intertwined until no sheep could slip through and no thief could push aside the barbs without pain. Such living walls needed no carpenter and almost no upkeep, but they advertised hardship: where stone or timber were scarce, thorns had to serve. When Solomon observes, “The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns” (Proverbs 15:19), every listener pictured the clawing briars that slow the traveller and tear his clothes. A parallel proverb speaks of “a hedge of thorns” hemming in the way of the rebellious (Proverbs 22:5). The semantic field that grows out of חָוָח therefore colours biblical references to idleness, moral folly, and divine judgment with the sting of real barbs.

Military and judicial nuance: the hook

Another offshoot of the same root describes the ring or hook forced through a captive’s nose. Assyrian reliefs display kings leading chained enemies by such rings. Scripture mirrors the practice. To the blasphemous Sennacherib the Lord says, “I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth” (2 Kings 19:28; repeated Isaiah 37:29). Pharaoh, portrayed as a monstrous crocodile, receives the same treatment (Ezekiel 29:4). Speaking of Gog, God promises, “I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws” (Ezekiel 38:4). Job is asked whether he could ever subdue Leviathan that way: “Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?” (Job 41:2). Each text reinforces the sovereignty of the Almighty, who alone can restrain the proud as easily as a fisherman secures a fish.

Theological currents

1. Divine sovereignty. The thorn-hedge and the nose-hook proclaim a God whose barriers and yokes none can ignore. His providence can hem a person in for protection (Hosea 2:6) or for chastening.
2. Moral accountability. Laziness and folly meet their own “hedge of thorns,” but diligence enjoys an “open highway” (Proverbs 15:19). The imagery warns against a life that invites painful consequences.
3. Eschatological justice. Prophets depict end-time tyrants led away with hooks, anticipating the final vindication of God’s holiness.

Christological reflections

The Gospels recount that a crown of thorns—another instrument of restraint and mockery—was pressed upon the Lord Jesus (Matthew 27:29). The One who could calm Leviathan submitted to the symbol of curse (Genesis 3:18) so that believers might walk a cleared path. The irony deepens the teaching: He wore the thorns so we need not remain entangled in them.

Ministry applications

• Shepherding: Leaders are to build gracious hedges—loving boundaries that keep flocks from spiritual precipices without ensnaring them in legalism.
• Evangelism: The picture of the conquering God who places hooks in the jaws of empires emboldens proclamation. Nations rise and fall, but His gospel cannot be restrained.
• Discipleship: When believers experience providential limits, they may see them not as obstacles but as the Father’s hedge steering them toward holiness.

Summary

Strong 2337 חָוָח yields no solitary proof-text, yet its offspring have shaped enduring metaphors. Together they remind readers that the Lord can surround, restrain, and redirect humanity for His redemptive purposes—thorns for the sluggard, hooks for the proud, and ultimately a pierced Redeemer securing freedom for His people.

Links
Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts
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