his ears

March 28, 2017

Go to the exiles (Ezek 3:10-3:11)

“Yahweh said to me.

‘Son of man!

All my words

That I shall speak

To you,

Receive in your heart!

Hear with your ears!

Then go to the exiles!

Go to your people!

Speak to them!

Say to them!

‘Thus says Yahweh God!’

Whether they hear

Or refuse to hear.’”

Yahweh told Ezekiel, the son of man, everything that he was to say. Ezekiel was to receive into his heart and hear with his ears all that Yahweh would tell him. Ezekiel was then to go to the exiles, his people. He was to say to them ‘Thus says Yahweh God!’ It did not matter whether they heard him or refused to hear him. He was to bring this message, pure and simple.

February 28, 2017

The prayer from the pit (Lam 3:55-3:57)

Qoph

“I called

On your name!

O Yahweh!

From the depths

Of the pit!

You heard my plea!

‘Do not close

Your ear

To my cry

For help!

But give me relief!’

You came near

When I called

On you.

You said.

‘Do not fear!’”

This personalized lament continues with a prayer from the bottom of the pit. This author called out to Yahweh. Yahweh then heard his plea as he did not close his ears. He responded to his cry for relief as he came near to him. Yahweh told him not to fear. There may be a happy ending after all this lamentation. These three verses start with the Hebrew consonant letter Qoph in this acrostic poem.

September 13, 2016

The teaching servant of Yahweh (Isa 50:4-50:5)

“Yahweh God has given me

The tongue of a teacher.

Thus I may know how

To sustain the weary

With a word.

Morning by morning,

He wakens me.

He wakens my ear to listen

As those who are taught.

Yahweh God has opened my ear.”

Now we are at the third chant of the servant of Yahweh in Second Isaiah. This servant has the tongue of a teacher, so that he was able to sustain the weary ones with his words. Every morning, Yahweh woke him up to listen and be taught, because Yahweh had opened his ears to hear and learn. Thus he could then be a teaching servant of Yahweh.

February 22, 2016

What is new? (Eccl 1:8-1:11)

“All things are wearisome.

More than one can express.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing.

The ear is not filled with hearing.

What has been

Is what will be.

What has been done

Is what will be done.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it is said?

‘See!

This is new.’

It has already been

In the ages before us.

People of long ago

Are not remembered.

There will be no remembrance

Of people yet to come

By those who come after them.”

Qoheleth was weary of everything. His eyes and his ears were weary, always looking and listening for more. However, the past is a predictor of the future. Whatever was done in the past will happen again in the future. Then there is the famous saying that there is nothing new under the sun. Perhaps in human relations not much changes. However, Qoheleth did not live in the technological 21st century, where things like airplanes, automobiles, radio communications, TV, computers, and I-phones would have surprised him as new things. It is true that human behavior is repetitive. We do tend to forget about the people in the past, just as the people in the future will forget about us.

December 22, 2015

From the depths (Ps 130:1-130:2)

A song of ascent

“Out of the depths,

I cry to you!

Yahweh!

Yahweh!

Hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

To the voice of my supplications!”

Psalm 130 is another in this series of pilgrimage songs or psalms on the ascent to Jerusalem. However, this is more a penitential psalm that cries from the depths of despair. This psalmist cried out to Yahweh. He wanted Yahweh to listen. He wanted Yahweh to have his ears attentive to his prayers of supplication.