Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
Ver. 11. Doth not the ear try words? &c.] The mind may as easily conceive of these truths as the ear judgeth certainly of the variety of sounds, and the tongue of the diversity of tastes; neither may you think that I will, without any examination or distinction, allow your discourses; or that I can take it well that you reject, as void of reason, whatsoever I have said, without once weighing it. The ear is one of the two learned senses, it is an instrument of discipline; only it should be kept clean and free from prejudice or passion, which will be as gall in the ear. See Exodus 6:9. Demosthenes called oft upon his Athenians to get their ears purged of choler, Quaedam animalia fel in aure gestant, and Alexander, when he heard a cause, was wont always to keep ους αδιαβλητον, one ear free from the other party: he would not be prepossessed, Mercer observeth, that the Hebrew word for an ear doth in the dual number signify a pair of balances (Ozen, oznajin), to note that a judicious Christian taketh not up truth upon trust, but considereth first, and afterwards believeth. He trieth all things, and then holdeth fast that which is good, but abstaineth from all appearance of evil, 1 Thessalonians 5:21,22. The ear and the mind are in the Greek tongue very like in sound, ους νους : the mind judgeth of the truth of words by the ears, as the beam in a pair of balances determineth the just weight of things by the two scales. He that is spiritual discerneth all things, 1 Corinthians 2:15, he hath spiritual senses, Philippians 1:9, senses exercised, habitually exercised, to discern good and evil, Hebrews 5:14; his service is a rational service, Romans 12:1, his obedience the obedience of faith, Romans 16:26. Whereas the natural man is carried away as he is led, 2 Corinthians 12:2, pulled away with the error of the wicked, 2 Peter 3:17, taken prisoner by seducers, 2 Timothy 3:6, and by them made prize of, Colossians 2:8, as having either no skill or no will to examine what is doctrinally propounded to him.
And the mouth taste his meat?] Heb. The palate, sensorium, which is the proper instrument of tasting. Now the order of nature requireth, saith Merlin, that seeing our bodily senses are so nimble and able to discern what is sour, what sweet, &c., our understandings also should do the same by right reason; and the contrary is very absurd and unbecoming a man; neither can there be any good excuse made for our dulness, if we bend not our minds to the search of the truth, forasmuch as there is so much ado made to please the palate, eyes, ears, and other senses. Catullus wished all his body were nose, that he might spend all his time in sweet smells. Philoxenus, that his neck were as long as a crane's, that he might take more delight in meats and drinks (it seems that he placed tasting not in the mouth, but in the throat). Boccacio, the Italian poet, said, that he was born al'amore delle donne, for the love of women; and of a prodigal pleasure monger in London, we read, that to please all his five senses at once, he allowed to the delight of every different sense a several hundred pounds (Theatre of God's Judgments). See Trapp on " Amo 6:6 " There is a sancta crapula, a holy gluttony, as Luther calleth a hearty feeding on divine viands, a finding fatness and sweetness beyond that of the honey and honeycomb in God's ordinances, Psalms 63:5,6; crying to Jesus Christ as the spouse doth, Song of Solomon 8:13, Cause me to hearken to thy voice; and obeying him, thus bespeaking us, Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved, till you are even inebriated with loves, Song of Solomon 5:1 .