There are nights when I lay my head on the pillow that I can clearly hear an audible sound that I am certain is real. The noise often sounds like muffled voices, or a distant radio stuck between two channels. I have even gotten up during the night to make sure someone didn’t leave a television on in another room. On other occasions there is a distinct ringing in my right ear, sometimes presenting itself as a low hum, or at other times as a high pitched reverberation.
As a deeply spiritual person, I often wonder if these auditory experiences are evidence of some otherworldly message from God being conveyed into my subconsciousness? There are those who claim that people who hear a ringing noise in their right ear are experiencing a paranormal encounter.
Could there be a spiritual explanation beyond the physical sensation I am experiencing? Does the Bible ever mention someone hearing a similar ringing in their right ear? What is the biblical meaning of right ear ringing?
Right Ear Ringing Biblical Meaning: Spiritual Beliefs & Explanation
Obviously, there could be a natural or physical explanation for experiencing this sensation of hearing a ringing in your right ear when there is no obvious auditory source present. When I have mentioned this phenomenon to other people, a few of them have confirmed that they have also experienced this same sensory sensation. Some followers of mysticism claim that clairvoyants or empaths (aka. people who are highly sensitive to other people’s emotions) experience ringing in their ears as a physical sign of the presence of a spiritual entity.
So, I began to wonder if there was any type of biblical explanation for this audible phenomenon that many people experience. Does the Bible ever speak about our ability to physically hear something or someone from the spiritual realm? Specifically, does the Bible ever mention someone hearing a ringing in their right ear, and if so, is there any spiritual significance to this auditory sensation?
There are many theories that are purported by psychics and spiritualists around the causes of hearing these ringing noises in your right ear. They claim the high or low pitched vibration could be either a positive or a negative sound depending on the source. In the minds of mystics who believe that immaterial energies are present and active in our material world, they claim that the ringing in your right ear could be evidence of the presence of one of these positive or negative energies. Typically, they assert that a high-pitched ringing in your right ear is a message from a higher or positive energy field, like an angelic being or a spirit guide. A lower-pitched vibration would in turn signal the presence of an energy source from the lower or more sinister realms. If you think you can hear static or white noise in your right ear, then they claim this is evidence of a connection with another person’s spiritual aura with whom you feel attached like a loved one. A short and loud ringing in your right ear, according to these spiritists, could be a warning signal or a call for your attention.
As a Christian pastor, I am highly skeptical of those claims, so I am interested in knowing the real cause. Is there any evidence of this phenomenon in the Bible? What do the Scriptures say about hearing a ringing noise in your right ear?
What is the Biblical meaning of Right ear ringing?
While there is no specific biblical text that describes the auditory sensation of hearing a ringing sound in your right ear, there is one passage that has been translated as “Listen carefully to what I say; let my words ring in your ears,” (Job 13:17, New International Version).
Rather than a piercing high shrill or a vibrating low hum, this verse describes the idea of contemplation and reflection or of allowing the words spoken to resonate in the mind. Jesus often used a similar idiom when He would say, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Read Matthew 11:15, 13:9, 13:43; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8 and 14:35 for just a few examples).
On each of these occasions, Jesus was suggesting that there is a difference between physically hearing a spoken word and meditating upon its meaning or taking it to heart. In the Book of Revelation, the Spirit of Christ addresses seven different churches; and with each one He says, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (See Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, and 3:22). Each of these verses indicates that Jesus was conveying a physically audible and yet simultaneously spiritual message. Those who heard it were to give careful attention to its meaning and to take the words of Christ to heart.
In the Old Testament, there is also an elaborate ancient custom in the Book of Leviticus pertaining to the ordination and worship practices of the Jewish priests in which blood was applied to the right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of the priest to consecrate him in his service to God (See Leviticus 8:23-24 and Leviticus 14:14, 17, 25, and 28). There is no indication that the priest heard a ringing in his right ear during this Jewish rite. Instead, the ritual of anointing the right ear, hand, and foot was a symbolic representation of the entire body and signified his complete submission to God from “head to toe.”
Conclusion
In summary then, the Bible never mentions anyone who perceived any type of unusual auditory stimulus which they described as a ringing in their right ear. There is no secret or hidden spiritual meaning mentioned in the Bible to explain why your right ear might be ringing, despite the musing of the mystics who try to say otherwise.
Instead, I would encourage you to meditate upon the spoken and written Word of God that is in the Bible, and to allow those words to give direction to your life from head to toe. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Dr. Richard Sams is a top Biblical and Religious educator, who holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (Evangelism and Church Growth emphasis) from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. He has two masters’ degrees (Master of Divinity and Master of the Arts of Religion) from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg and also serves on the Pastoral Leadership Advisory Board of Liberty University. Moreover, Richard Sams has been serving as a pastor (Pastoral Ministry) at Calhoun Baptist Church in Calhoun, KY, from the past Nineteen years. He loves practically imparting biblical truths to the next generation, while occasionally conduct spiritual challenges on his facebook page facebook.com/MakeItCountChallenge