Jeremiah 7:24: “But they harkened not nor inclined their ear.”
I get the part of not harkening unto the Word of God which is the context here. I mean God spells out in his Word what we are to do and not to do. The Bible tells us not to steal, so if I steal I am not harkening unto the Word of God.
But this matter of not inclining one’s ear has me a bit baffled. This is suggesting that God is speaking to us and we are not inclining our ear to hear him. Hey, let me tell you, if God is speaking to me, I am inclining my ears to hear Him. My problem is how in the blazes does He speak to us. Does he speak audibly? Perhaps that happens on occasions, but it is not his standard way of speaking. Does God use events? That too, I may be praying about sending an offering to Eastern Outer Vandally, then that very next morning I turn on the TV and there is a news flash of an earthquake in Easter Outer Vandally. Yeah God often speaks that way, but that is not what He means here about inclining our ears.
I think it is more like David Wilkerson’s experience before 9-11. A couple months before 9-11 David Wilkerson and his church felt a strong leading in their spirits to set aside a special time of prayer. This prayer time grew into a deep sense of desperation. On 9-10 David Wilkerson call everyone together to prepare sandwiches and the church just naturally went to work preparing hundreds of sandwiches for an event they knew nothing about, nor even asking why, that is until the next day, on 9-11. This was obviously a church which had inclined their ear to God.
Taking a look at this expression in the Hebrew I find the word incline to be hitu which comes from the root word natah. The word really has the idea of stretching out; it is used for the tightening of the bow strings on a bow to shoot an arrow or the tightening of the strings on a musical instrument. We call this tuning an instrument. Natah or inclining in its Semitic root means to turn an instrument. This involves tightening the strings of the instrument to get it into just the right tension so when the strings are struck they will be in tune or in harmony with all the other instruments. The English word ear is the Hebrew word ’azenam comes from the root word ‘azan which means ear, but it is also a word that is sometimes used for a musical instrument.
Inclining one’s ear really means to tune a musical instrument. So hearing the voice of God is being illustrated with the tuning of instruments, or even the playing of musical instruments. Consider the matter of tuning musical instruments. I remember attending a Farmer’s Market in Oak Park, Illinois. Off in one area were a group of amateur musicians who got together playing various musical instruments. They appeared to be just group of friends and strangers who got together to just jam and play various musical riffs. Anyone with any kind of instrument was welcomed to grab a chair and join them. There were guitars, banjos, an accordion and some sort of drum etc. Yet they were all in harmony, all playing the same chords with the same rhythm. When they came to a stopping point one of the members mentioned a favorite song, In the Sweet Bye and Bye. This person began playing this song only with a different rhythm and melody. At first it was just the one person who suggested the song playing it with her banjo. In just a few moments all the others seemed to sense this new and different rhythm and melody and just sort of followed the lead of the one person playing the banjo. Everyone appeared interested in this new approach to an old song and encouraged her to keep playing. As she did I noticed the others gradually picking up on the tune, however, when she hesitated the others also hesitated. At first some were just quietly picking away at their instrument and some were just strumming a few chords, but after about a minute or two all were playing the melody as if they had rehearsed it for days. As they really started getting into this new melody and rhythm many started to add their own little creative runs and riffs. Before long all were sort of doing their own little thing, yet all were still keeping in tune and in perfect time with each other creating a beautiful culmination of sounds as one voice with many different creative expressions. It was almost as if each could go solo and play their own version of the melody while the others played softly in the background as a backup. They all were as one yet each with their own creative identity. It was as if they could anticipate each other’s moves and sounds. Yet, they all just sat back and played as if they were playing a song straight from their hearts in their own little creative way.
This is what Jeremiah means when he says we are to hitu eth ‘azenam or incline our ears to God. We stay in tune with God and follow his rhythm and then whatever we do we do in accordance to that tune and rhythm, we can even create our own version, our own little riffs and musical runs so long as it stays in tune with God. Hearing God’s voice and following God’s voice should be as free and flowing as following another musical instrument. In this way hearing God’s voice is just a matter of staying in tune with Him.
Yet, should just one person in that little impromptu band not hitu eth ‘azenam, incline their ears the whole sound would be disruptive and out of tune and the gathering crowd that paused to listen would quickly disperse. So, too, if just one Christians decides to play his own tune and create his own rhythm that is not in sync with God, the whole group of Christians will quickly disperse a crowd.
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