Matthew 11:15

Mat_11:15

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Hearing the word

I. Take heed that ye hear.

1. This implies willingness to hear; it pre-supposes a mind exempt from prejudice.

2. It implies devout earnestness to hear.

II. Take heed how ye hear.

1. This means that we should seek to understand the gospel.

2. That we should endeavour to experience the gospel.

3. That we should reduce what we learn to practice.

III. Take head what ye hear.

1. You should desire to hear the Word of God.

2. The pure Word of God.

3. The plain Word of God.

4. The sure Word of God.

5. The living Word of God. (J. C. Jones.)

Capacity envolves responsibility

What a man can do, that he ought to do. If he can hear, let him hear; yes, and if he can see, let him see; if he can serve, let him serve; if he can pray, let him pray. Men can hear much that they do not hear. An average ear, we are told, is able to recognize about a thousand musical tones. Speaking roughly, the human ear is so constructed that all tones, from that which is caused by fifty vibrations in a second to that which is caused by five thousand vibrations in a second, can be distinctly received and discriminated. How much we lose, for example, in walking through a wood, if we are ignorant of the notes of the various birds we hear around us; how much the scene gains in interest and charm when we have learned to recognize them, and can call up a picture of the birds in their several haunts. Nay, how many more distinct tones we hear in the sweet general babble of the woods, if we are able to recognize the several notes of which it is composed (Carpus, in Expositor.)

Our Lords keenness of hearing

Remember what lovely and pathetic parables our Lord was for ever hearing, as well as speaking, when He dwelt among us. For Him the whole realm of Nature was instinct with spiritual significance, and all the relations, occupations, and events of human life. For Him they had voices, and voices that disclosed their inmost secret. The birds of the air spoke to Him, and the lilies of the field, and the sower going forth to sow, and the housewife sweeping her floor or making her bread, and the very children as they played and wrangled in the market-place. What a world that was through which He moved; with what sweet and delicate voices it greeted Him; what tender and lovely stories they were always telling Him; what spiritual messages and consolations and encouragements and hopes they were for ever bringing Him. (Carpus, in Expositor.)

Hearing fulfilled in doing

When Julius Mascaron preached before the French Court, some envious persons would have made a crime of the freedom with which he announced the truths of Christianity to King Louis XIV. His Majesty very spiritedly rebuked them, saying, He has done his duty; it remains for us to do ours. (Percy.)

The word planted in the heart

There is a story of two men, who, walking together, found a young tree laden with fruit. They both gathered, and satisfied themselves for the present; but one of them took all the remaining fruit and carried it away with him; the other took the tree, and planted it in his own ground, where it prospered and brought forth fruit every year; so that though the former had more at present, yet this had some when he had none. They who hear the Word, and have large memories and nothing else, may carry away most of the Word at present; yet he that can perhaps but remember little, who carries away the tree, plants the Word in his heart, and obeys it in his life, shall have fruit when the other has none.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 11:15. Ὦτα ἀκούειν, ears to hear) Thus the LXX. in Deu 29:4; cf. Rom 11:8. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” was a form of commanding attention peculiar to our Lord, and indicates, that the other things which might be said more expressly, are contained in those which have just been uttered.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_11:15. A request to give due attention to this important statement in Mat_11:14. Comp. Mat_13:9; Mar_4:9; Luk_8:8; Eze_3:27; Hom. Il. xv. 129.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 11:15 . proverbial form of speech often used by Jesus after important utterances, here for the first time in Matt. The truth demanding attentive and intelligent ears (ears worth having; taking in the words and their import ) is that John is Elijah. It implies much that the kingdom is here and the king, and that the kingdom is moral not political.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 15. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.] As if our Lord had said, These things are so clear and manifest that a man has only to hear them to be convinced and fully satisfied of their truth. But neither the Jews of that time nor of the succeeding times to the present day, have heard or considered, these things. When spoken to on these subjects, their common custom is to stop their ears, spit out, and blaspheme; this shows not only a bad, but a ruined cause. They are deeply and wilfully blind. They will not come unto the light, lest their deeds should become manifest, that they are not wrought in God. They have ears but they will not hear.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) He that hath ears to hear.—The formula, which meets us here for the first time, is one which our Lord seems to have used habitually after any teaching, in parable or otherwise (Mat_13:9; Mar_4:9), which required more than ordinary powers of thought to comprehend. To take in the new aspect of the coming of Elijah required an insight like that which men needed to take in, without an interpreter, the meaning of the parable of the Sower.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But whereunto shall I liken this generation? The men of that age, the stubborn and perverse Jews; who were pleased with nothing, with no man's ministry, neither with John's, nor with Christ's, but found fault with whatever they heard, or saw done:

it is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling to their fellows: that is, the case of such persons may be fitly represented by children in a public market, calling to their companions, to pipe or mourn with them, and who are so morose and sullen as to do neither: for the men of that generation, are not the good natured children, that called to their fellows, and were willing to join in innocent diversions and exercises; but rather John the Baptist, Christ and his disciples, who may be compared to "children", for their harmlessness and simplicity; and are represented as "sitting in markets", places of concourse, where much people met together; which may intend the synagogues and temple, and other public places, which they made use of to publish their doctrines in, to preach to, and exhort the people; and as "calling to their fellows", to their contemporaries, to those of their own nation, by the external ministry of the word.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Ver. 15. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear] Let him attentively listen, not with that outward ear only, that gristle that grows upon his head: but let him draw up his heart to his ears, that one sound may pierce both at once. Thus hear, and your souls shall live, Isa 4:3. A heavy ear is a singular judgment, Isa 6:10. The good Hebrews are taxed for their dull hearing, Heb 5:11. Such ears are likely to be forced open by correction, Job 33:16, and be made hear the rod, Mic 6:9. So that if they did but see their danger they would do as the prophet requires, "cut their hair and cast it away," under the sense of the horror of God’s heavy displeasure, Jer 7:24; Jer 7:29.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that hath ears ... - This expression is frequently used by Christ. It is a proverbial expression, implying that the highest attention should be given to what was spoken. The doctrine about John he regarded as of the greatest importance. He among you, says he, that has the faculty of understanding this, or that will believe that this is the Elijah spoken of, let him attend to it and remember it.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It is an epiphonema or conclusion often used by our Saviour, (and by St. John in the Revelation), quickening up the hearers to a just attention to and belief of what in the doctrine preceding he had revealed to them; intimating that he knew, that what he had said would not be entertained or believed of all, but only of such whose ears and hearts God had opened, or should open to receive spiritual mysteries. But it was a matter of great concernment, he therefore calls upon those whose ears God had opened to attend to it. So Mat 13:9,43; Mr 4:9; 7:16; Luk 8:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Ears to hear, let him hear — He that has faculties of attention, let him use them well upon this point.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. A solemn exhortation, often spoken by our Lord at the close of an utterance. See Mat_13:9, (equivalent to Mar_4:9) Mat_13:43 Mar_4:23 Luk_14:35 (comp. Mar_8:18 Luk_9:44 Re 2 and Re 3 Rev_13:9) It means You are all formed by nature to learn God"s commands; answer, therefore, to your powers, and obey him. See Psa_40:6. (cf. Heb_10:5)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear - A kind of proverbial expression; requiring the deepest attention to what is spoken.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

JOHN WINDS UP THE OLD DISPENSATION

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied unto John. And if you wish to receive him, this is Elijah who is to come.” (Mal 3:1) “Let the one having ears to hear, hear.” Though all have physical ears, they never can hear the voice of God and the music of heaven till Jesus speaks the Ephthatha, “Be thou opened.” The above Scriptures settle all questions as to the boundaries of the dispensations, showing clearly that John the Baptist did actually wind up the Mosaic dispensation, being the last of the prophets and the greatest of all.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. A formula used by Christ to give emphasis to an utterance of especial importance.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

15.] These words are generally used by our Lord when there is a further and deeper meaning in His words than is expressed: as here—‘if John the Baptist is Elias, and Elias is the forerunner of the coming of the Lord, then know surely that the Lord is come.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. The words occur again in 13:9, 43. Here they seem to call attention to a fulfilment of prophecy, and they may have a similar purpose in 13:43. See note there.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.