Commentary - Proverbs 20:12

Bird's-eye view

This proverb is a compact statement of God's absolute sovereignty over all human perception. On the surface, it is a simple affirmation that God is the Creator of our physical senses. But like all true wisdom, it goes much deeper. The "hearing ear" and the "seeing eye" are biblical shorthand for understanding, discernment, and spiritual apprehension. Therefore, the proverb is teaching that God is the ultimate source of all knowledge and wisdom. He not only created the physical world but also created the very faculties by which we interact with and understand that world. This has profound implications, establishing the foundation for a Christian epistemology. It means that no knowledge is autonomous; all true perception, whether of a sunset or of salvation, is a gift from the hand of Yahweh.

The verse serves as both a statement of common grace and special grace. In His common grace, God gives physical eyes and ears to all men, enabling them to navigate and learn from the created order. But in His special, saving grace, He gives spiritual eyes and ears to His elect, enabling them to see the glory of Christ and hear the call of the gospel. The proverb thus stands as a rebuke to both the arrogant unbeliever, who thinks his perception is his own, and the self-sufficient believer, who forgets that his spiritual life is a moment by moment gift from the One who made him able to see and hear.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

Throughout the book of Proverbs, a sharp contrast is drawn between the wise man and the fool. The wise man is one who listens to instruction, who receives correction, and who perceives the world rightly. The fool is deaf to counsel, blind to his own folly, and trusts in his own heart. Proverbs 20:12 provides the theological foundation for this distinction. A man is wise not because he is naturally clever, but because Yahweh has given him a "hearing ear." A man is a fool not simply because he is ignorant, but because he is spiritually deaf and blind. This verse grounds the entire wisdom project of Proverbs in the doctrine of God's sovereignty. You cannot obtain wisdom on your own; it must be granted. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge, and that very fear is a gift from the one who opens our eyes to see Him as He is.

Key Issues

The Foundation of All Knowing

In our modern secular age, man assumes his senses are his own. He sees, he hears, he touches, and from this raw data, he believes he constructs his own reality, his own truth. His mind is the ultimate arbiter, and his senses are his loyal servants. This proverb cuts the legs out from under that entire project. It tells us that our sensory equipment is not our own possession. We are not the proprietors of our perception; we are tenants. The landlord is Yahweh.

This means that there is no neutral ground. There is no brute fact that can be interpreted apart from God. The eye that sees the fact and the ear that hears the report were both made by Yahweh. Therefore, every act of perception is an interaction with a divinely created reality through divinely created faculties. The only honest response to this reality is to bow before the Maker and acknowledge that all our knowing is dependent upon Him. The unbeliever uses the eyes God gave him to look at the world God made and then declares that God does not exist. This is not an intellectual problem; it is a moral one. He is using the landlord's own equipment to deny the landlord exists.

Verse by Verse Commentary

12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made both of them.

Let us take the proverb in its two layers, the physical and the spiritual. In the first place, the statement is a straightforward celebration of God as Creator. The human ear is an astonishing piece of intricate engineering, capable of distinguishing a vast range of sounds and frequencies. The human eye is a marvel of optical physics, processing light and color with breathtaking complexity. The materialist must attribute these wonders to the blind, purposeless churn of time and chance. The Bible says otherwise. A personal, intelligent, and infinitely creative God, Yahweh, designed and made them. This is a basic affirmation of the doctrine of creation. Every time you hear a bird sing or see the sun rise, you are using borrowed equipment, and you owe the Maker thanks.

But the Bible, and Proverbs in particular, consistently uses "hearing" and "seeing" to refer to more than just physical sensation. A "hearing ear" is one that is receptive to wisdom, that listens to correction, and that obeys the commands of God. A "seeing eye" is one that has discernment, that perceives the true nature of a situation, and that recognizes the hand of God in the world. The fool has physical ears, but he does not "hear" instruction. The wicked man has physical eyes, but he is blind to his own sin.

So when the proverb says Yahweh has made both of them, it is making a profound theological claim about salvation. How does a man move from folly to wisdom? How does a sinner come to repentance? It happens when Yahweh performs a creative act. He gives the deaf sinner a "hearing ear" to hear the gospel. He gives the blind sinner a "seeing eye" to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. As Jesus Himself often said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." That spiritual capacity is not native to our fallen nature. It is a gift. It is a miracle of re-creation. Yahweh made the first ear in the garden, and He makes every spiritual ear that hears His call to salvation.

Application

First, this proverb should produce profound humility in us. Our ability to think, to reason, to perceive the world, is not our own doing. We are utterly dependent on God for every thought and every sensation. This demolishes all intellectual pride. The brilliant atheist professor and the simple Christian believer both rely on the same God for the very eyes they use to read their books. The difference is that one acknowledges the Giver and the other does not.

Second, it should fill us with gratitude. We should be thankful for the simple, physical gifts of sight and sound. But how much more should we be thankful if God has opened our spiritual eyes and ears? To be able to see Christ as beautiful, to hear the gospel as good news, is the greatest gift imaginable. It is not something we achieved; it is something God has made in us. Our testimony is not "I found God," but rather, "I was blind, but now I see."

Finally, this proverb should shape our prayers and our evangelism. We should pray constantly that God would give us eyes to see and ears to hear what His Word is saying to us. We must not trust our own unaided perception. And when we share the gospel with others, we must understand that we are not simply trying to win an argument. We are speaking the truth into spiritual deafness and blindness, praying that the sovereign Maker of the ear and the eye will be pleased to perform a miracle of creation, and make them hear and see.