All of the Ten Words assume one basic commandment, summarized in the shema , Israel’s confession of faith: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God.” The prophets echo the shema again and again: “Hear the Word of Yahweh.” So does Solomon: “Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.” “Hear”: That is God’s fundamental demand.

But we don’t listen. We have hearts of stone, like Pharaoh. “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen” is a recurring refrain in Exodus. Once Israel gets into the wilderness, they turn to idols and become a nation of Pharaohs. Idols cannot hear, and have hearts of iron or stone. And all who worship them go deaf.

Still, Yahweh speaks and speaks to Israel, and finally speaks to them in His living Word, Jesus, God’s own human voice. And fortunately Jesus gives hearing hearts (cf. 1 Kings 3:9). Jesus proclaims the miraculous and paradoxical gospel of the open ear, “Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see!”

Even when Jesus opens our ears, we need to cultivate a taste for God’s word. Voices clamor for our attention, and it takes effort and time to tune our ears to His voice. But God has not been silent, and He has not been secretive. Hear Him and live, because your heart is directed by what you hear.