Taste of hearing

Job dismisses Zophar’s comfort with a “with you wisdom will die” (12:2). Job has heard wisdom before, and his ear is attuned to it. His ear tests words “as the palate tests its food” (v. 11).

It’s a pregnant analogy. It suggests that hearing is active rather than merely receptive. The ear doesn’t simply take in what comes, but sifts and judges it.

It suggests that the ear is not merely taking in vibrations, but that it is taking in words, which are meaningful. And, following the typical Hebrew anthropology, Job locates the alertness to meaning not in the brain but in the ear itself.

It also suggests that the ear can be trained. Even an untrained palate is repulsed by certain tastes, and an untrained ear recognizes obvious falsehood. But as a trained palate can recognize nuances of flavor, a trained ear can hear find gradations in what it hears. A trained ear can hear pseudo-wisdom when it comes.