And the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thy house.
God has just made Ezekiel a watchman over Israel, and now he lies face down in the plain before the same glory he saw at Chebar. What follows is strange: the Spirit lifts him to his feet, God speaks — and that word sends him indoors.
The prophet falls, but God does not leave him there. One writer explains why the Spirit's first work is to set a man on his feet:
And not only that, but the Spirit enters into him to make him stand. He cannot even listen to the message while flat on the ground. That posture may rightly express how small the creature is in God's presence. But it cannot express God's grace toward him. We see this everywhere in the history of the prophets, most clearly in Daniel, and again in the case of John the beloved. God cannot speak out His thoughts to someone lying face down in the dust before Him. This is already a first taste of what enables us to say that we have not received the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" That cry has not yet come in Ezekiel's day, but even so the spirit of fear is told to leave, so that God's words may have their proper character.
The command to shut himself in his house runs against the errand God gave him. The reason lies in the people, not in the prophet.
The prophet again sees the glory of Jehovah by himself. The Spirit tells him that he is not to go out among the people. He will be a prisoner in his house, and God will make his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. They were a rebellious people, and as a people they were not to receive the warning. God, when He pleased, would open the mouth of the prophet.
The shut door and the silenced mouth did not end Ezekiel's usefulness. His silence preached, and it had a time limit.
He was shut up in his house; they were to put bands on him and bind him. He was not to go among the captives, and God made him dumb (verses 25-26). Yet this dumbness was not complete or constant. Finally 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).
Another writer weighs what that silence cost the people:
God would make his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth to enforce his silence. The reason: He would no longer plead with them in love, as He had done through Jeremiah, until He opened the prophet's mouth again.
The same writer draws a practical lesson from the shut door. The servant speaks when God opens the way, not before.
Prostrate the prophet falls again; for who can stand before this holy, holy, holy God? But again the Spirit raises him and sets him on his feet. He now receives an instruction which at first seems almost to contradict the call he has received. In fact it is meant to guide him in obeying that call. He is to shut himself in his house. There is no readiness on the people's part to receive what God has to say... he can only speak among these stubborn people when God opens the way for him. Nothing can resist that opening, for the Spirit of God refuses to be hindered... that is why the apostle says we must "redeem the time" (Eph. 5:16) — the word really means "the opportunity." We are to take the openings which God makes for speaking His message among men, "because the days are evil." For it is He who "opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens." His commission of grace is world-wide. Still, the one who would be fruitful in it must realize complete dependence, and watch for the doors that open under the Hand that guides.
Note: "redeem the time" is an older wording of Ephesians 5:16; the ESV reads "making the best use of the time."
God's best-known servants all knew long stretches alone with Him.
God has made all His servants know and experience this truth. Moses at Horeb, Elijah at Cherith, Ezekiel at Chebar, Paul in Arabia, and John at Patmos are all striking examples. They show how important it is in practice to be alone with God. Look at the Divine Servant: the time He spent in private was nearly ten times as long as the time He spent in public.
- Raised — the glory puts the prophet on his face; the Spirit puts him on his feet. God does not pour out His thoughts to a man lying in the dust.
- Shut in — the door closes on the prophet because the nation's ears are closed; as a people, they would hear no more warnings.
- Silenced — the enforced silence became the sign. It was never total, and it ended once Jerusalem fell.
- Opened — the servant's part is dependence. Watch for the doors God opens, take each opportunity while the days are evil, and let the shut door become the place of being alone with God.
And thou, son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee therewith, and thou shalt not go out among them.
God has just made Ezekiel a watchman, told to warn people one by one. The next thing He does is tie him down and take away his speech. Why silence the messenger He has just sent, and who puts the cords on him?
The chapter moves in two steps, and the second looks like it undoes the first. God gives Ezekiel a charge about each person, and then shuts him in.
Then the Spirit lifted him up, with the sound of the glory going with him. After seven days among the captives at Tel-abib, the word came that the LORD had made him a watchman to Israel. He was given a most solemn charge and responsibility: to be faithful at his own risk. It was no longer a question of the nation, but of each person's faithfulness. The chapter closes with a final command, when he sees the glory again on the plain, as he had by the Chebar. He was to be a prisoner in his house, with his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth, because they were rebellious.
The cords mark what the people as a whole have lost. God still speaks whenever He chooses.
The prophet sees the glory of the LORD again, alone. The Spirit tells him that he is not to go out among the people. He is to be a prisoner in his house, and God will make his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. They were a rebellious people, and God would no longer give them the warning as a nation. God would open the prophet's mouth whenever He pleased.
One writer ties the silence, and even the title "son of man", to where God is standing. He is with the exiles, and He deals with Jerusalem from outside.
God is with the captives, not with the house, and so He has withdrawn to His sovereign place on the Throne. He treats them as rebellious there, and He visits Jerusalem now in judgment. He acts on it from outside. So Ezekiel is son of man, and he is silent, because the Spirit of God is not speaking from His place within, but speaking to them in His majesty from outside.
Commentators differ on the cords. One takes them as real bands that others put on Ezekiel, and follows his silence to its end.
After that, he was shut up in his house. They were to put cords on him and bind him. He was not to go among the captives, and God made him unable to speak. Yet this silence was not complete or constant. In the end it stopped altogether. That was after Jerusalem had fallen. The silence was a sign to the nation — the sign of God's displeasure and of the judgment coming on Jerusalem.
The other finds the cords in the people's own condition, and draws a rule for anyone who carries God's word.
He is to shut himself in his house. The people are not ready to receive God's message. So their condition, as he is told, is what puts the cords on him. He can speak among these stubborn people only as God opens the way for him. Nothing can block that opening, because the Spirit of God refuses to be hindered. … While the commission of His grace reaches the whole world, anyone who wants to be fruitful in it must know his complete dependence on God, and watch for the doors that open under the Hand that guides.
Ezekiel taught without saying a word. His own life became the message, and this was the first of many such signs.
God commanded this great prophet to do certain things in front of the people. They were living in deception after listening to the false prophets. In chapter 3:24-26 he had to shut himself in, bind himself, and then God made him silent. Next God told him to lie on his right side and on his left for 430 days. In chapter 4:9 he had to eat unclean bread. Then he had to shave his head and beard. He had to carry a captive's baggage. When his wife died, he was not to mourn. And again he lost his speech.
- Bound by rebellion. The cords and the silence are God's answer to a people who would not hear. As a nation, they had lost the warning.
- Bound from outside. God has withdrawn from the house at Jerusalem and now speaks to it from a distance. That is why His prophet is shut in and silent.
- Bound as a sign. The silence itself preaches — the sign of God's displeasure and of judgment coming on the city.
- Bound, not gagged. The silence was not total and not permanent. God opened the prophet's mouth when He pleased, and the silence ended for good once Jerusalem fell.
- Bound, yet sent. Where hearts are closed, the servant speaks only as the way opens. So watch for the door God opens instead of forcing one.
And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.
God had just charged Ezekiel to warn Israel, and now, in the same chapter, He binds the prophet's tongue. Why appoint a preacher and then silence him before the very people who needed the warning?
The verse says Ezekiel will be "unable to reprove them." God holds that reproof back from Israel as a nation, and the reason He gives is their rebellion.
The prophet again sees the glory of Jehovah by himself. The Spirit tells him that he is not to go out among the people. He is to be a prisoner in his house, and God will make his tongue cling to the roof of his mouth. This is because they were a rebellious people, and as a people they were not to receive the warning. God, when He pleased, would open the mouth of the prophet, and he would speak firmly to the people, declaring the word of Jehovah. Let anyone hear who was willing. Jehovah would no longer plead in love, as He had done.
A tongue stuck to the roof of the mouth is a picture of forced silence. That silence closed a season of appeal God had carried on through an earlier prophet.
They were so rebellious that God would not have them warned. God would make Ezekiel's tongue cling to the roof of his mouth (Ezek. 3:26) to enforce his silence. He would no more plead with them in love, as He had done by Jeremiah, until He again opened his mouth.
Ezekiel no longer pleads with the nation. Yet his high visions never lift him above plain right and wrong.
He has no reasoning with them in the spirit of bringing them back. But note this: however high the prophet is raised, he never departs from the plain ground of right and wrong that any conscience can see. See verses 17, 18.
The people's own state set the limits on when the prophet could speak. That principle reaches into our own day.
He is to shut himself in his house. The people are not ready to receive God's message. So their condition, as he is told, will put bands on him. He can speak among these stubborn people only as God opens the way for him, and nothing can hold that opening back, for the Spirit of God refuses to be hindered. We cannot help seeing that what was true of Israel in that day is true now of the world at large. That is why the apostle says we must "redeem the time" (Eph. 5:16) — "the opportunity," as it really is. Take the openings God makes for speaking His message among men, "because the days are evil."
What Ezekiel could not say became the message. The muteness also had limits.
After that, he was shut up in his house; they were to put bands upon him and bind him. He was not to go among the captives, and God made him mute (verses 25-26). Yet this muteness was not complete or constant. Finally it ceased altogether. That was after Jerusalem had fallen (33:21-22). The muteness was a sign to the nation — the sign of God's displeasure and the coming judgment upon Jerusalem (24:27).
The silence had an end point. God would open the mouth He had closed, but only when no one could deny the news any longer.
The siege lasted nearly a year and a half. Then came the message that the enemy had taken the city. In that day, when at last all was over and no one could hold on to a false hope any longer, God would open the prophet's mouth. He would speak, and be mute no more... When judgment has had its way, and God has fully vindicated His holiness, God opens the prophet's mouth again — not for more judgment, but to announce blessing to come. In His unchanging goodness that blessing is still reserved for them, however much their persistent sin has delayed it.
- Rebellion closes the mouth. They were a rebellious house, so as a people they were not to receive the warning.
- Love stops pleading. God had reasoned with them through Jeremiah. Here He pleads in love no longer, until He opens the prophet's mouth again.
- Their state binds the servant. Their unreadiness put bands on him. He could speak only as God opened the way, so we must seize the openings God makes.
- Silence speaks. The muteness was not complete or constant. It stood as the sign of God's displeasure and of judgment coming on Jerusalem.
- God opens what He shut. When the city fell, no false hope remained. Then God opened the mouth again — not to judge, but to announce blessing still held in reserve.