Pro 21:13 | KingComments | STEP | God’s judgment comes not only on those who do evil ( ), but also on those who refuse to do good. “The one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” ( ). “He who shuts his ear” deliberately wants to hear nothing (cf. ). It is an expression of cruelty and insensitivity. Here someone does so in order not to hear “the cry of the poor”. He closes himself to a cry for help. He hears it, but pretends not to hear it. This is about an explicit request for help. It can also be applied to an unspoken request for help, to perceiving someone who is poor, but avoiding him. He who does so has no feeling; he closes his inner self, his bowels ( ). He can even camouflage his deafness with very pious words ( ). Those who show no mercy will not obtain mercy if they themselves call for it (cf. ). Poor Lazarus lay at the rich man’s front gate and longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table, but the rich man didn’t look after him. He closed his ears and eyes to Lazarus and did not care for him. When the rich man lifts up his eyes in torment and asks for coolness for his tongue, he finds no answer ( ).

‏ Proverbs 21:13

To Shut the Ear and Not to Be Answered

God’s judgment comes not only on those who do evil (Pro 21:12), but also on those who refuse to do good. “The one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (Jam 4:17). “He who shuts his ear” deliberately wants to hear nothing (cf. Acts 7:57). It is an expression of cruelty and insensitivity. Here someone does so in order not to hear “the cry of the poor”. He closes himself to a cry for help. He hears it, but pretends not to hear it.

This is about an explicit request for help. It can also be applied to an unspoken request for help, to perceiving someone who is poor, but avoiding him. He who does so has no feeling; he closes his inner self, his bowels (1Jn 3:17). He can even camouflage his deafness with very pious words (Jam 2:16).

Those who show no mercy will not obtain mercy if they themselves call for it (cf. Jam 2:13a). Poor Lazarus lay at the rich man’s front gate and longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table, but the rich man didn’t look after him. He closed his ears and eyes to Lazarus and did not care for him. When the rich man lifts up his eyes in torment and asks for coolness for his tongue, he finds no answer (Lk 16:19-31).