Well-k
nown Broadway producer Jed Harris once became convinced he was losing his hearing. He visited a specialist who pulled out a gold watch and asked, “Can you hear this ticking?” “Of course,” Harris replied. The specialist walked to the door and asked the question again. Harris again answered, “Yes, I can hear it clearly.” Then the doctor walked into the next room and repeated the question a third time. A third time Harris said he could hear the ticking. “Mr. Harris,” the doctor concluded, “there is nothing wrong with your hearing. You just don’t listen.”
No doubt we all know people who have good hearing but never listen to anything. Teachers complain about their students not listening, wives complain about their husbands, and pastors wonder why members don’t know what was in the sermon. Often it’s less a case of simple inattentiveness and more likely the problem of not wanting to listen to what is being said.
Adam and Eve were told not to eat the fruit they eventually digested. Pharaoh was told repeatedly to let God’s people go. Jonah was told to go east, and he headed west. The Israelites were told that having a king was a bad idea, and look where it got them.
The destruction of Jericho was a great victory for the Israelites. They knew well that it was the Lord’s strength and power that utterly destroyed that city, not their shouting and trumpet blowing. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days” (Hebrews 11:30). After it was over, “Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: ‘Cursed before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates’” (Joshua 6:26). The ruins of that city were to serve as a monument and a statement that the mighty Lord God of Israel is the only true God. They testified to all who passed by that the Lord is a God who not only judges sin and evil but also protects his people. Although people were allowed to live in its vicinity, Jericho was to remain without walls or city gates. It was not to have the appearance of a fortified city to anyone who would enter Palestine.
Do you know what happened 450 years later? “In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun” (1 Kings 16:34). God’s Word was fulfilled and Hiel paid the price for not listening to the Lord’s warning. As Hiel rebuilt the fortress, the Lord carried out the punishment. From the laying of its foundation to the completion of the city gates, Hiel lost his sons one by one. With no more heirs, the name of Hiel would be forever forgotten (except for a single verse in Scripture).
Both Ahab and Hiel heard about the curse that God spoke to Joshua, yet they refused to listen to God’s warning. They felt the ruins of Jericho gave a message of weakness to outsiders. Instead they needed to have a fortified border city that would stand as a powerful defense against outside aggression. Ahab and Hiel were not satisfied with God’s plan. God’s grace was not sufficient. They needed to display their own human power and greatness.
Sometimes we become weary of trusting in God as our only source for strength. Sometimes we hear God’s promises to care for us, but we don’t listen to what God is saying. Perhaps now and again we need to remember a man named Hiel, who paid a dear price for his refusal to take to heart what God says.
Personal goal: Take special note today of how many times you hear but don’t listen.
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