Ear (Hastings' Dictionary)

Hearing is associated with obedience as seeing is with conviction. In the East when an order is given, the responsive gesture is to lift the hand to the head and breast, implying that the order is understood and will be carried out. Thus also in the Arabian Nights, after a command by a superior, the invariable reply is, ' Hearing and obeymg ! ' Eye, ear, and heart are concrete terms for understanding, will, and affection, and the gospel is declared to be something beyond human thoughts, desires, and passions. Men had at all times offered sacrifices to influence the will of the gods appealed to, but here God made the sacrifice to lead captive the will of man. ' Ear hath not heard' (1 Co 2'). Its limit is in man's willingness to listen (Mt 139, Rgy 2^- "• ", etc.). Assurance concerning God's ability to hear is drawn from the fact that He planted the ear (Ps 94»). The alien- ated heart is called an uncircumcised ear (Jer 6'°). The boring of a slave's ear by his consent was the token of life-long surrender and ownership (Ex 21" ; but not Ps i^, see Kirkpatrick, ad lac.); the tip of the ear was touched with blood in the consecration of Aaron and his sons (Lv S™-) and in the cleansing of a leper (14"- "•»«-») ; the cutting oflof the ears is mentioned as one of the atrocities perpetrated by an enemy (Ezk 23^) ; to incline the ear is a frequent expression for to give attention (Ps 45'", Pr 22" etc.); the ears tingle (S^sr) at dreadful news (1 S 3", 2 K 21", Jer 19); to open one's ear (ijn •1^3) is a common expres- sion for to reveal a secret to one (1 S 9" 20-^'- ", 2 S 7", 1 Ch l-" etc.). G. M. Mackik.