Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 11:15
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. A way of speaking used by Christ, when anything serious, and of great importance, was delivered; and which required attention, and was not easily understood: and such were the several things he had mentioned in this context; as that John was more than a prophet, more excellent than all the prophets; that the law and prophets were now at an end, and that John was Elias; which things, if rightly understood, would serve greatly to settle their judgment, with respect to himself as the Messiah: but his words imply, that everyone had not spiritual ears and understandings, to hear and take in things of such an high nature, and excellent use; none but those to whom they were given; and such ought to attend to them, and, seriously weigh and consider the importance of them. The phrase is to be met with in Jewish writings, where it is thus expressed h;
“”He that hears let him hear, and he that understandeth let him understand”;”
See Mt 13:43.
h Zohar in Num. fol. 60. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “He that hath ears to hear,” (ho echon ota akoueto) “The one who has ears to hear,” the one who is, exists with spiritual capacity to hear, whose spiritual understanding is opened, such as the disciples had been.
2) “Let him hear.” (akoueto) “Let him hear or give heed,” implying a hidden or covert meaning of the past, that should now be, understood and accepted. That meaning was that the church (newly established) should, now and hereafter, be accepted, Mat 13:11-17; Eph 3:1-16; Act 15:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. We know that it is customary with Christ to introduce this sentence, whenever he treats of subjects which are highly important, and which deserve no ordinary attention. (18) He reminds us, at the same time, of the reason why the mysteries of which he speaks are not received by all. It is because many of his hearers are deaf, or at least have their ears closed. But now, as every man is hindered not only by his own unbelief, but by the mutual influence which men exercise on each other, Christ here exhorts the elect of God, whose ears have been pierced, to consider attentively this remarkable secret of God, and not to remain deaf with unbelievers.
(18) “ Et qui ne doit pas estre escoutee par acquit;” — “and which ought not to be listened to in an indifferent manner.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Ears to hear, let him hear He that has faculties of attention, let him use them well upon this point.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus then finishes His words concerning these things by calling on all whose ears were open to take notice of what He was saying. This in itself confirms that He did not expect that all would hear and respond. He was always aware that the flock to whom the Kingly Rule was being given would be a small one (Luk 12:32). But it was important that all be urged to hear, with the inherent warning of the danger of not genuinely hearing. For this phrase see also Mat 13:9; Mat 13:43.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 11:15. He that hath ears to hear, &c. In the prophetic style of writing in general, there are two senses exhibited to the reader; first the literal, and then the figurative; for, as the words are intended to be the vehicle of the literal sense, so the literal sense is intended to be the vehicle of the figurative, to the man whose understanding is exercised “to discern the things of the Spirit.” It is such therefore, in a particular manner, that whatever is written in the symbolic style in the New Testament is addressed. OurLord, to distinguish such from the unthinking multitude, calls them those who have ears to ear. Whoso hath ears to hear, let him hear. The same expression is also used in the Apocalypse, a book of prophesies. And it deserves to be attended to, that the Lord Jesus Christ never employs these words in the introduction or the conclusion of anyplain moral instructions, but always after some parable or prophetic declarations figuratively expressed. For this also holds in respect to allegory, apologue, and parable. Campbell.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
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.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
He that hath ears to hear. A Hebraism. Figure of speech Polyptoton. App-6. Used only by the Lord, and marking a dispensational crisis (as this was) on fourteen different occasions. See App-142.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
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.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 11:15. , 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.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mat 13:9, Mat 13:43, Mar 4:9, Mar 4:23, Mar 7:16, Luk 8:8, Rev 2:7, Rev 2:11, Rev 2:17, Rev 2:29, Rev 3:6, Rev 3:13, Rev 3:22
Reciprocal: Psa 49:1 – Hear Pro 8:4 – General Jer 2:2 – cry Jer 44:24 – Hear Eze 3:27 – Thus Luk 14:35 – He Act 13:16 – give
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:15
This is an emphatic call to attention, meaning that all who are blessed with the faculty of perceiving the sense of the divine teaching should use that faculty by attending to what is said.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 11:15. He that hath ears to hear, etc. This usually follows an important statement, intimating that he who has the discernment to understand will find the deeper meaning. Here it suggests: Christ meant more than that John was Elijah, that he Himself was the Messiah. Then, as now, properly to understand the Scriptures was to know Christ. The comparison which follows intimates that few would receive the truth respecting John, or have ears to hear the glad news of the Messiahs presence.If John wished our Lord to declare Himself, his wish was granted, but the revelation was, as always, only to those who really sought to know Christ.
Mat 11:16-19 contain parallels and contrasts as in Hebrew poetry. In Luke the poetic form is even more marked.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
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.