The God of Vengeance
He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see? Psalm 94:9 · Berean Standard Bible
Here's the wake-up call: the God who created ears and eyes obviously hears and sees. You can't trick the One who made you.
Think about it logically, the psalmist says. You're claiming God doesn't see or hear, but God literally created the capacity for seeing and hearing. It's absurd. The Creator who made these abilities in you obviously possesses them Himself.
The psalmist, using common sense and basic theology to expose the fool's contradiction.
This appeals to creation itself as evidence of God's power and attention. Throughout Scripture, creation testifies to God's nature—it's written into the fabric of reality that God is aware and present.
The psalmist argues rhetorically that God, who created human faculties like hearing and sight, obviously possesses these capacities and therefore observes human behavior.
This verse employs what scholars call the *qal wa-homer* argument ('light and heavy'): if humans can hear and see, how much more must the God who created these faculties possess them? The verbs 'affixed' (נָטַע, nata) and 'formed' (יָצַר, yatzar) reference the creation accounts, particularly Genesis 2:7 where God fashions humans. The structure presupposes that the creator necessarily exceeds the creation in capacity—a principle later developed in medieval Jewish philosophy by Maimonides and Christian theology by Thomas Aquinas.
The psalmist now assumes the rhetorical stance of a teacher-theologian, constructing an argument from creation itself.
This recalls Job 12:7-8, where Job appeals to the natural world as evidence of God's wisdom. It also prefigures Romans 1:20, where Paul argues that God's 'invisible attributes' are 'clearly perceived' through creation.
7They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
8Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?
9He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?
10He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline? He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge?
11The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.
Read all of Psalm 94 — How long will the wicked triumph? God hears every boast, sees every injustice. The one who made the ear — can He not hear?
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