Job 34:3

“For the ear trieth words, etc.] Not only the musical sound of them, the goodness of the language and diction, and the grammatical construction of them, but the sense of them, and whether the matter of them is good or not; that they are sound speech, which cannot be condemned, or unsound; whether they are right or wrong, agreeably to right reason, sound doctrine, and the word of God; for there are words and words, some the words of men, others the words of God. A sanctified ear tries these; but then men must have such ears to hear, and be attentive to what they hear, and retain it; hear internally as well as externally; and which a man does when his ears are opened by the Lord, from whom are…”

“palate--(See on Job 12:11; Job 33:2).”

“For the ear trieth words - Ascertains their meaning, and especially determines what words are worth regarding. The object of this is, to fix the attention on what he was about to say; to get the ear so that every word should make its proper impression. The word ear in this place, however, seems not to be used to denote the external organ, but the whole faculty of hearing. It is by hearing that the meaning of what is said is determined, as it is by the taste that the quality of food is discerned. As the mouth tasteth meat - Margin, as in Hebrew “palate.” The meaning is, as the organ of taste determines the nature of the various articles of food. The same figure is used by Job in Job 12:11.…”

“34:3-4 ear tests . . . mouth distinguishes: Elihu echoed Job’s earlier complaint about the other counselors’ weak argument that “wisdom belongs to the aged” (12:11-12; see 6:30; Heb 5:14).”

“the ear: Job 6:30, Job 12:11; Co1 2:15; Heb 5:14 mouth: Heb. palate, Job 31:30, Job 33:2 \*marg. Job 34:4”