He who has an ear

In Psalm 40, David says that Yahweh has “dug” or “pierced” or “opened” his ear. He is referring to the ritual for permanent slaves, according to which the slave’s ear is pierced at the doorway of the house to symbolize that his ear is open to one master. David is a permanent slave in the house of Yahweh.

This forms the background for Jesus’ repeated exhortations “he who has an ear, let him hear,” and for the phrase repeated in the messages to the seven churches, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

So far, so (fairly) obvious. But Psalm 40 sheds more light on these New Testament passages. In the Psalm, the open ear is linked to obedience (“I delight to do Your will, O my God,” v. 8). And, importantly, it is contrasted with other forms of response to God’s Word: sacrifice, meal offering, ascension offering, purification offering. In context, the opened ear represents the fitting sacrifice, the obedience that delights the Lord more than sacrifice. When Hebrews 10 quotes Psalm 40, it is making the same point: Jesus offers the true sacrifice of obedience, rather than the old sacrifices that do not take away sin.

Now, what happens when we read the “he who has an ear” in the light of this particular emphasis in the Psalm? Jesus is not merely instructing His hearers to listen and do; in Revelation, Jesus is not merely saying that the members of the churches should open their ears to the Spirit’s words. In both places, the “he who has an ear” has an implied contrastive element: Hearing/doing as opposed to offering sacrifice.

This is more obvious in the gospel passages, where the Jewish context is more overt. Jesus’ disciples form a community within the nation of Israel, and one of the ways to characterize the difference is to say that Jesus’ followers offer the sacrifice of the ear rather than bulls and goats. In Revelation, the contrast is not as obvious, but it is there. If, as I believe, the main opponents of the seven churches of Asia are Jewish/Judaizing, then the exhortation to hear takes on a specific force. “Let him hear what the Spirit says” instead of opening the ear to the Judaizing Torah-teaching of the Balaamites. “Let him hear what the Spirit says” instead of practicing circumcision or requiring bloody offerings. Or: “Circumcise the ear, and thus the heart” instead of circumcising the “flesh.”