Biblion Bible Commentary
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Dull of Hearing
Hebrews 5:11-14
11 About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing. · WEB
The writer breaks off his argument to say the readers cannot follow it, and locates the fault in disuse rather than in ability.
About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing.
The subject is Melchizedek, introduced twice now and explained neither time Hebrews 5:6 Hebrews 5:10. The writer says he has a great deal to say about it and stops — and the reason he gives is not the difficulty of the material but the condition of the audience.
Dull translates a word for sluggish or slow. And the tense matters: they have become dull, so this is a change from an earlier state rather than a permanent limitation.
Verse 12 makes the reproach specific and it is a matter of elapsed time: although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles.
The expectation was progression. Enough time has passed that they should be the ones instructing, and instead the basics have to be laid out again. The word again is the sting — this is not a first explanation.
Then the image: you have come to need milk, and not solid food.
It is a diet appropriate to infants, and the trouble is that they are not infants. Nothing here says milk is bad; the fault is in the pairing of infant food with people who have been at the table for years.
Verse 13 explains what milk cannot do: everyone who lives on milk is not experienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby. The missing thing is experience — not intelligence, not sincerity.
And verse 14 says how the capacity is acquired: solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
By reason of use. The faculty for telling good from evil is described as trained rather than taught, developed by exercise the way a sense is sharpened by being relied on. Which means the readers' dullness is not a gap in their information and cannot be closed by more explanation.
That diagnosis is what makes the next paragraph's decision surprising. Having said they cannot digest solid food, the writer announces he is moving on to it anyway Hebrews 6:1.
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