Giving An Ear to God

“Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; for the LORD speaks” Isaiah 1:2

Giving An Ear to God

Hear – When Isaiah uttered this phrase, “Hear O earth”, he used the Hebrew verb ‘azan.  For the people who listened, the allusion would have been obvious.  It’s the same phrase found at the beginning of the Song of Moses, given to the people before Moses died (Deuteronomy 32:1).  Isaiah’s phrase is like you and I hearing someone start a message with “We hold these Truths to be self-evident”.   The entire history jumps from the words.  It’s not just about what we hear today.  It’s about everything that God has done with our nation.  That’s what Isaiah wanted his people to understand.

The Song of Moses is a song of warning.  Moses speaks to a people who have been rebellious.  He longs for them to straighten their paths and serve God alone.  When Isaiah arrives on the scene, thousands of years later, he sees the same rebellion and he issues the same warning.  God will not withhold His wrath forever.  Just like Moses, Isaiah pleads for a change of heart.  Those words, “Hear O earth”, are terrifying words to the man or woman who is disobedient.  They have an ominous history behind them.

‘Azan is better translated “Give ear”.  For reasons known only to the translation committee of the New American Standard Bible, they chose to use “give ear” in Deuteronomy but “hear” in Isaiah.  While the meaning is the same, what we loose is the connection.  The history disappears in the change of the word.  What a shame.  We need to see the connections.  The power is in the reminders.

There is another reminder obvious in this choice of verb but hidden from us in English.  Over and over, the verb ‘azan is used to describe the prayers and petitions in the Psalms.  “Give ear to my words, O LORD” (Psalm 5:1), “my voice rises to God and He will hear (give ear to) me” (Psalm 77:1) and others.

If the earth is required to give its ear to God’s word, what about the men who walk the earth?  The history of ‘azan tells us, “YES!”  Giving ear to God is serious business.  Didn’t Jesus say the same thing?  “He who has ears, let him hear.”