that in that day he that escapeth shall come unto thee, to cause [thine] ears to hear [it]?
Ezekiel has been struck with a loss he is forbidden to mourn, and the exiles by the river Chebar want to know why. The answer points to one day still ahead. Jerusalem falls, a survivor brings word of it, and the prophet's long silence toward his own people ends.
The verse points to "that day." It is the day just described, when God takes from the people what they valued most. Here the prophet names what God is about to remove.
Say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord Jehovah, "Behold, I am profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes and the pity of your soul. And your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword." It is the mourning for these last that must stop, in view of a mourning that can find no full expression.
The temple was not one loss among many. It was the pledge that God was with them, and losing it swallowed up every other grief.
The loss of their sons and daughters, terrible as it is, does not match the breaking of the marriage tie that Ezekiel suffers. For that, we have to think of the sanctuary itself gone. It was the pledge and seal of that tie. It spoke of the Lord's presence with them, and it gave the people access to Himself. Once that tie was broken, the loss might well swallow up all others.
Later in the book, the record of this arrival carries an exact date. One commentator notes a puzzle: the messenger reaches Ezekiel long after the city fell.
In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me and said, "The city is struck down." … The hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before he came, and He had opened my mouth before he came to me in the morning. My mouth was opened, and I was no longer silent. … It is strange to realize that the man who escaped from the city arrived more than sixteen months after the city was taken. … No doubt the report of the capture had long come before the refugee himself. … Now, with the living witness among them, they could at least doubt no more that the blow had fallen.
Ezekiel's silence had a meaning for the whole nation, and it had a limit.
He was not to go among the captives, and God made him silent. Yet this silence was not complete or constant. In the end it stopped altogether, after Jerusalem had fallen. The silence was a sign to the nation — the sign of God's displeasure and the coming judgment upon Jerusalem.
The limit was about subject matter, not about speaking at all.
This silence did not mean that he never spoke at all. During it he prophesied what we read in chapters 25-32. He was to be silent concerning Israel. The chapters in between, before the messenger came, concern other nations. Then the promised messenger arrived, and God opened his mouth again to prophesy about Israel.
after-note: sentences split, adverbs and passives removed
Both the prophet's loss and his silence were timed to the siege and fall of the city.
before-claim not in any quote; shorter lead-in
On the day Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem, the wife of the prophet dies. She was the dearest object of his affections, yet Ezekiel was not to mourn. Under the figure of his wife's death he is told to hold back his heart before the judgment of Jehovah. Once the judgment was carried out, the prophet's mouth would be opened, and the word of Jehovah would come openly to the remnant, so that they would know Jehovah.
The judgments in these chapters all end the same way — the nations learn who the Lord is. Israel receives something extra.
These judgments are carried out so that all of them will know Jehovah. In Israel's case there is more: they understand, and they see prophecy confirmed in a special way.
- Sign — Ezekiel's unmourned loss and his enforced silence were not private grief. Both were signs of God's displeasure and of the judgment coming on Jerusalem.
- Stroke — On "that day" God takes the sanctuary first, the pledge of His presence. Then their sons and daughters fall. The greater loss swallows up the smaller.
- Survivor — One escapee reaches the exiles with the news that the city is struck down. He arrives more than sixteen months after the city fell.
- Speech — The silence covered Israel only. During it Ezekiel prophesied about other nations. The messenger's arrival opened his mouth to his own people again.
- Sight — Judgment makes the nations know Jehovah. Israel receives more. They see prophecy confirmed before their eyes, so they understand what is happening.
In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him that is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb. So shalt thou be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
Ezekiel had been struck dumb toward his own people. Here God fixes the day his voice returns — the day a survivor arrives from the fallen city — and says what it is for: that they will know the LORD.
The prophet's silence had an end point, and God set it. He would stay silent toward Israel until God's sentence on Jerusalem fell.
Once judgment had been carried out, the prophet's mouth would open. The word of the LORD would then go openly to the remnant, so that they would know the LORD.
While any hope of escape survived, false confidence could feed on the prophet's words.
The prophetic message to the people closes here for a time. They must wait for the last act of the judgment now about to happen, until the message comes announcing that it is fully accomplished. The siege lasted for nearly a year and a half, and then came the news that the city was taken. On that day, when at last it was all over and no one could keep up a false hope any longer, the prophet's mouth would open. He would speak, and be dumb no longer.
A prophet who cannot speak is himself a message. God withdrew His words from Israel, and the silence announced what was coming.
This dumbness was not complete or constant. In the end it stopped altogether. That was after Jerusalem had fallen (33:21-22). The dumbness was a sign to the nation — the sign of God's displeasure and of the coming judgment on Jerusalem (24:27).
The silence had a subject. Ezekiel keeps speaking in the chapters that follow, but he addresses not one word of them to his own nation.
Clearly this dumbness does not mean he was silent all the time, never saying a word. He prophesied, after all, what is written in chapters 25-32. He was to be dumb about Israel. The chapters in between, before the messenger came, are about other nations. Then the promised messenger arrived, and his mouth opened again to prophesy about Israel.
The verse does not say Ezekiel would give signs; it says he is one. The sign had already begun with a personal loss.
On the day that Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem, the prophet's wife dies. Although she was the dearest object of his affections, Ezekiel was not to mourn. Under the figure of his wife's death, he is told to hold back his heart before the judgment of the LORD.
What he suffered stood in for God Himself.
Here, as elsewhere, Ezekiel stands as the representative of God to the people, as the prophet in fact always was. It should be noticed that the blow falls not on the people but on the prophet himself... So it is quietly made clear that the prophet's sorrow is the sorrow of God Himself. The affliction is on His side, not on man's. Yet it is an affliction that can find no outlet among a people as stubborn as these.
Commentators differ on the tone of his first words after the silence broke. One reads the reopening as the turn toward grace:
So the prophet's mouth is reopened, because there is grace to be announced. Still, God first affirms that His righteous ways have not changed. That is the fitting introduction to the grace. The fall of the city shows the people now fully under judgment. Their false confidences are exposed.
Another points to the warning he in fact gave — to people whose talk of faith did not match their hearts:
The news of Jerusalem's fall took a long time to reach the prophet. Then he opened his mouth, so long closed, and gave a solemn warning of further judgment. He warned them all the more because they pretended to speak the language of faith while their heart was far from the Lord.
The verse ends with the reason behind it all. The same aim runs through this whole series of judgments, and Israel receives something more.
God carries out these prophecies to make them all know the LORD. Only in Israel's case there is something more: the understanding and the special verification of prophecy.
- Silence. God's word withheld from Israel was itself a message — the sign of His displeasure and of judgment on the way.
- Stroke. The blow fell first on the prophet, not the people; his unexpressed grief pictured a sorrow that was God's own.
- Sign. Ezekiel was not just a speaker of signs but a sign himself, standing before Israel in God's place.
- Speech. His mouth stayed shut until every false hope died. Only when the survivor came did God open it — as warning first, or as grace? Commentators differ.
- Knowing. Every step aimed at one end: that they would know the LORD. Israel alone would also see prophecy proved true in the ruins.