Proverbs 4:20 Commentary and Bible Study

Look at the two key words, ‘Attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.’ The Hebrew is very interesting. Two quite different ideas, both of which drawn from the antics or the activities of a dog, or an animal. A dog first of all when it hears something, will prick up its ears, and then maybe particularly turn or incline its head. And these two descriptions indicate two different kinds of listening. To begin with, the pricking up of the ear, the giving of attention, means that some different sound has struck us, something which claims our attention, and the idea of this is that in the context of being trained on the farm you listen to your father's instruction, because this is special not just general chatter. Now you are being trained for the future. And as soon as you hear that tone of voice – you could imagine it in the ancient household – as soon as you hear this instructional tone of voice: this is what to sow next, how to do the day's work, the particular order in which everything is to be done, you know that something important is being said.And the second, inclining the ear, means you have got to give it undivided attention. You cannot listen to two people at once. The application of the illustration is simple. When it comes to divine things, they are unique. We give them a special hearing. Here is God in his word, speaking with authority about our destiny, about the soul, about how we are lost without Christ, about the way of salvation. This is not like any other thing that we hear in this world. Whenever we hear the word of God, it must have a special ring of authority, and we listen in a different and in a special way. We not only listen in a special way, but we incline the ear to shut everything else out.