Moral or spiritual qualities are assigned to the ear in several passages, according to the frequent OT usage (Pr 15^', Is 59', etc.); one example is quoted from the OT and applied by St. Paul to the Jews of Rome : ' their ears are dull of hearing' (Ac 28^^ ; cf. Ro 11®). The same charge is brought l>y the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews against those to whom he writes (5'' ; aKoal, not oi;s). This attribution of quality to the organ does not, of course, imply naturalistic determinism ; the ear is part of the responsible personality. If men ' hav- ing itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts,' it is because ' they will turn away their ears from the truth ' (2 Ti 4"' ; d/co^). The OT reference to the ' uncircumcised ' ear ( Jer 6'*)
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is several times repeated (Ac 7'^ ; Ep. Barn. ix. 4, X. 12).
The only significant a«t named in this literature in reference to the ear is that of those who hear Stephen declare his vision of Jesus at the right hand of God : they stop their ears, that the blasphemy may not enter (Ac 7"). Ignatius writes to the Ephesians (ix. 1), with reference to false teachers, ' ye stopped your ears, so that ye might not receive the seed sown by them.' Irenaeus (ap. Eus. HE V. 20) says of Polycarp that ' if that blessed and apostolic presbyter had heard any such thing [as the Gnosticism of Florinus], he would have cried out, and stopped his ears.' The baptismal practice of a later age protected the ear of the candidate by the Effeta {Ephphatha), a rite based on the miracle recorded in Mk 7^. The priest touched the ear with his finger moistened with saliva (Duchesne, Origines du Culte Chretien*, 1908, p. 311). The posi- tive side of the baptismal anointing of the ear seems to be implied in the Odes of Solomon, ix. 1 : ' Open your ears, and I will speak to you' (cf. J. H. Bernard, TS viii. 3 [1912] ad loc). For the apostles, therefore, the ear forms the correlate to 'the word of faith which we preach' (Ro 10''"^^), which is conceived with equal pregnancy of mean- ing as the vehicle of the Spirit (E. Sokolowski, Die Begriffe Geist xmd Leben bei Paulus, 1903, pp. 263-267). Through the response of the con- scious ear to the spoken word, an experience is begun which eventually passes into the realm of those 'things which ear heard not' (1 Co 2^ ; cf. 1 Clem, xxxiv. 8, 2 Clem. xi. 7), and of those ' un- speakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter ' (2 Co 12^). H. Wheeler Robinson.
EARNEST [appa^div). — The word occurs three times in the NT, viz. 2 Co 1^ 5' 'the earnest of the Spirit,' and Eph 1'* ' the earnest of our inherit- ance.' The word means ' pledge,' ' surety,' ' assur- ance,' and is taken from an old Hebrew term used in connexion with the transference of property. The Hebrew equivalent fu-ij? is found in Gn 38'^- ^^- ^ referring to the pledge of a staff and a signet-ring given by Judah to Tamar as an assurance that she would receive her hire. Probably the word came into Greek through Phoenician traders, and we find it in Latin in three forms : arrhabo, arrabo (e.g. Plautns, True. III. ii. 20), and arrha [e.g. Aulus Gellius, XVII. ii. 21). It is found in tlie form arra or arrhes in the languages most directly derived from the Latin. The Scotch word 'arles' —the coin given by a master to a servant on en- gagement as a pledge that the fee will be duly paid — is derived from the same source, and corre- sponds to the obsolete English word 'earlespenny.' The word signifies, not merely a pledge, but also a part of the possession. In the conveyance of property in ancient times it was usual for the seller to give the buyer a handful of earth or part of the thatch of the house as a token that the bar- gain would be binding, and that the whole pro- perty, of which the buyer thus received a part, would be delivered over in due course.
In Scripture the idea underljdng this conception is frequently referred to. Thus in Gn 24-^- ** the ear- rings and the bracelets given by Eliezer to Rebecca are tokens of the wealth of his master and evidence of a comfortable home in Canaan. In the NT passages the Holy Spirit which is given to believers is regarded by the Apostle as both the pledge and the first-fruits of the inheritance that awaits them. In 2 Co P^ 5' 'the earnest of the Spirit' is the earnest which is the Spirit. The present posses- sions of Christian believers imparted by the Spirit are both pledge and foretaste of the future bliss that awaits them. They are the ' earnest ' of the 'inheritance' (Eph 1'^). W. F. BOYD.
EARTH, EARTHEN, EARTHY, EARTHLY.— Earth (7^) is used in a variety of meanings, which may be distinguished as follows : (1) the dust or matter of which the first man was made (1 Co 15'*'') ; (2) the fertile soil which yields grass and herbs and fruit (He 6^ Ja 5^ Rev 9'*) ; (3) the solid ground upon which men stand or fall (Ac 9'*' ^) ; (4) the land in contrast with the sea (2 P 3*, Rev 10*) ; (5) the whole world as the abode of men (Ac P, etc. ; equivalent here to the more frequent oIkov- u.ivr\) or beasts (Ac 10^^ IP) ; (6) the earth in space, in contrast with the visible heavens — skies and stars (Ac 2'^, Rev 6'^) ; (7) the earth in contrast with the invisible heavens — the dwelling-place of God and Christ, of aniiels and perfected saints (Ac 7^", 1 Co 15^^ Eph 3'''5, He 8^ ; cf. v.i) ; (8) the earth in contrast with the underworld (Ph 2'**, Rev 5^" ^^) ; (9) the earth with a moral connota- tion, as the sphere of a merely worldly life to which is opposed the heavenly life with Christ in God (Col 3-- *).