translated `obedience' eleven times, `obedient' once, `obeying' once and `to

obey' once, or fourteen occurrences in all.  `Even the winds and the sea obey

Him' (Matt. 8:27).  Here the basic idea of hearing with subjection is

incipient, for the Saviour `rebuked the winds and the sea' (Matt. 8:26), and

they heard with subjection, recognizing their Master.  This same word is used

for the obedience of children to parents, of servants to masters, of Sarah to

Abraham, and in the doctrinal sense, of obeying sin (Rom. 6:12), the gospel

(Rom. 10:16), the injunction of the apostle in his epistle (2 Thess. 3:14)

and the call of Abraham (Heb. 11:8).  To believe is to hear, to obey is to go

one stage further and hear in subjection, not slavishly, not cringing, but as

those who are at last free to serve from the heart (Rom. 6:17).  Parakouo

means literally `to hear aside' and in Matthew 18:17 it occurs twice where it

is translated `neglect to hear' in the A.V. and `refuse to hear' in the R.V.;

in either case, whether it be neglected or refused, hearing is involved.

Parakoe is three times translated disobedience (Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 10:6; Heb.

2:2).  The passage in Romans is of tragic importance.  It refers to Adam's

first sin, the act that let both sin and death into the world.

`For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the

obedience of One shall many be made righteous'.

Adam, instead of `hearing in subjection', `hearkened unto the voice of

(his) wife' (Gen. 3:17), the consequence of which was symbolized by the

thistles and thorns of Genesis 3:18, and the sweat and dust of Genesis 3:19.

Who could have foreseen such dire consequences to faulty hearing!  When one

is acquainted with the association which these passages establish between the

ear and obedience, the ritual of the willing servant and the pierced ear is

rational and full of meaning.

`If the servant (who is due for liberation in the seventh year) shall

plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go

out free: then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall

also bring him ... unto the door post; and his master shall bore his

ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever' (Exod.

Not only so, but another reference beset by some element of doubt is

put into clearer light by this knowledge.

`Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou

opened' (Psa. 40:6).

The margin reads `Mine ears hast Thou digged', the R.V. margin reads

`Or pierced for me'.  When we come to the epistle to the Hebrews and read the

quotation of this Psalm in that epistle, there is, on the surface, a very

great diversion from the language of the original.  The Hebrew of Psalm 40:6

reads `Mine ears hast Thou opened' or margin `digged'.  The LXX version and

the reference in Hebrews 10:5 reads `A body hast Thou prepared Me'.  On the

surface it appears that the LXX retains the correct text, being endorsed by

the inspired apostle, and the present Hebrew text of Psalm 40 must be

considered defective.  This is not so however.  There is a similar example of

Divine and intended expansion of meaning in the way in which the word `truth'

in Isaiah 42:3 `He shall bring forth judgment unto truth', is altered, in

Matthew 12:20, to `Till He send forth judgment unto victory'.  Truth must

ultimately prevail; there is no contradiction here, only a Divine expansion

and filling.  So in Psalm 40 and Hebrews 10.  Three figures are involved: