EAR (אֹ֫זֶן, H265, οὖς, ὠτίον, little ear). The vital organ of hearing, while used in the physical sense often, more frequently involves the idea of understanding and obedient response. The tip of the right ear of the priests was touched with blood during their consecration (Lev 8:23f.). A servant who spurned freedom to continue in the service of his master had his ear bored with an awl to signify his continual subservience (Exod 21:6).

Several idioms involve the word “ear.” “To incline the ear” means “to give attention” (Ps 88:2). גָּלָה אֹזֶן denotes “revealing a secret to one” (1 Sam 20:2; 2 Sam 7:27). Uncircumcised ears are deaf to moral and spiritual instruction, not delighting whatever in the Word of God (Jer 6:10; Acts 7:51). Likewise, men with healthy ears sometimes do not hear (Jer 5:21), or are prevented from hearing spiritually (Isa 6:10). One with a hearing ear manifests obedience (Prov 20:12; 25:12) whereas one who “stops his ears” from listening to an evil plot declares that he wants no part of it (Isa 33:15). At the hearing of disastrous news, ears tingle (1 Sam 3:11; 2 Kings 21:12).

God is said to open men’s ears with the result that they gain understanding (Job 29:11) and display obedience (Isa 50:4, 5). Christ exhorted the disciples to “let these words sink into your ears” (Luke 9:44) implying a careful and heart-searching response. Probably the “digging” of David’s ears refers to this same capacity to respond to God’s voice (Ps 40:6).

In contrast to idols (135:17), God’s ears are not heavy (Isa 59:1, 2). Another reference to ears “heavy of hearing” appears in Matthew 13:15. Occasionally, the phrase “in the hearing of” equals “in the presence of” (1 Chron 28:8; Luke 4:21).

Cutting off ears was a feared practice of the enemy (Ezek 23:25). Peter’s severing of the ear of the servant in the garden marks the only occurrence of ὠτίον, G6065, the diminutive of οὖς, G4044, signifying the outer ear (Matt 26:51; Mark 14:47).

Bibliography M. Dahood, Psalm I, in The Anchor Bible (1966), 246.