Ezekiel 3:26

Eze 3:26 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.

Ver. 26. And I will make thy tongue.] A spiritual and a special judgment upon the people, thus to silence the prophet. So he dealt by our ancestors, upon the setting up of Queen Mary.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze_3:26-27

That thou shalt be dumb.

The silent system

After so many years of uninterrupted activity, to be imprisoned, to be silenced, and almost incapable of writing or reading, is mere wearisome than even the pain that often accompanies it; and yet, hence the following instruction may be gathered:--

1. How much activity belongs to some natures, and that this nature is often mistaken for grace.

2. How much we are called to suffer, as well as to do, the will of God. When I have bid one of my children to sit down quietly, and remain silent during my pleasure, I enjoin him a more difficult task than the most active service; and yet I expected it to be done, because I ordered it. How is it that I have not yet learned to sit still, when I am told? (R. Cecil.)

He that heareth let him hear.--

The Word of God not to be altered

The prescriptions of a physician must not be altered, either by the apothecary or the patient; so we, the preachers, must not alter Gods prescriptions, neither must you, the hearers. We must not shun to declare, nor you to receive, The whole counsel of God..

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:26-27 Even Ezekiel’s tongue was under arrest, bound to the roof of his mouth except when God freed it to speak his words of judgment. He was not physiologically incapable of speaking, but his communication was so restricted by God that he could only deliver the message of disaster that God gave him; all other speech was prohibited. This made Ezekiel’s role more limited than that of most prophets, who were free to intercede for and mediate between God and his people. Ezekiel could not speak on their behalf because the time for dialogue between God and his people had passed. No further appeal was possible against the coming judgment. Ezekiel’s speech would be restricted until the news of Jerusalem’s fall arrived (24:27). At that point, with the completion of God’s judgment on his people, the prophet’s tongue would be freed to intercede for them again.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which declareth the terrible plague of the Lord, when God stoppeth the mouths of his ministers, and that all such are the rods of his vengeance that do it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I will make my tongue . . . dumb--Israel had rejected the prophets; therefore God deprives Israel of the prophets and of His word--God's sorest judgment (Sa1 7:2; Amo 8:11-12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 26. I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth] I will not give thee any message to deliver to them. They are so rebellious, it is useless to give them farther warning.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But he now adds, I will fix thy tongue to thy palate — or I will make thy tongue adhere to thy palate — so that thou shalt not be to them a reprover, because they are a rebellious house What God ascribed to the Israelites he now transfers to himself. He had said, They will bind thee with ropes: he now says, I will make thy tongue cleave to thy palate But these two things are easily reconciled, because in truth the Israelites rejected prophecies through their intemperance, and God thus deprived them of this benefit, because he saw they were unworthy of it. But this place shows that it is a sign of God’s vengeance, when all prophecies cease, and opportunity for hearing is taken away. For as God shines upon us by his instruction, and we have thereby a certain pledge of his fatherly grace and favor, so also when instruction is removed, it is just as if God hid his face, nay, even turned his back upon us. We must consider, therefore, what is here said — because the house of Israel was rebellious: hence the Prophet was dumb, and refrained from teaching those impious ones. God therefore desists, when he sees that he is dealing with the stupid and deaf; but. not on the first occasion of their wearying him, because he rather contends with man’s ingratitude, and never ceases, as we see in Jeremiah, to rise in the morning, and to keep watch even while it is yet night; (Jeremiah 7:2; Jeremiah 11:7; Jeremiah 35:14; Psalm 74:9;) he never ceases to call to himself even those who are slow and sluggish, nay, even the utterly rebellious: but at length, when he sees that he does not succeed by long-suffering, he takes away his instruction, as we have said. And therefore the Church complains that it is destitute of Prophets, and places that slaughter among the extreme signs of God’s anger: “We do not see our signs, and Prophets do not appear among us.” In this way they understand that they are alienated from God, and that no consolation remains to them, when God does not give them any taste of his goodness by Prophets. The ungodly indeed wish this, because nothing is more troublesome to them than to hear God continually exclaiming. Hence, as far as they can, they seek hiding-places, and think nothing better for themselves than to be torpid amidst their vices, and to be deaf to every voice of reproach; but yet nothing is more destructive to them, because God offers himself as a physician who cures our diseases, while he exhorts us to wisdom. But when he is silent, he deserts us as if abandoned to de-st, ruction, and hence I said that nothing is more destructive than when no reproach sounds in our ears, but we are sweetly flattered, because in this way Satan deprives us of our senses, and this is his final poisoning, when he so soothes us with his blandishments, that all reproach which may alarm our security altogether ceases. Now it follows: —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(26) I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth.—Here, under another figure, this enforced silence is attributed, not to “the rebellious house,” by whom it was immediately brought about, but to God Himself, whose providence was the ultimate cause by which the prophet was placed in such circumstances. It is a way of expressing strongly the difficulties under which he was to exercise his ministry.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. I will make thy tongue cleave] The restraint imposed by the opposition of the people is acquiesced in by God, it is part of his purpose. His providence will meantime be the best teacher of the people. The prophet’s “dumbness,” however, is compatible with much speaking at least by signs to those who will hear. He is “dumb” in the sense of the Psalmist, “I was dumb, not opening my mouth, because thou didst it” (Psa_39:9; Isa_53:7; cf. Eze_24:27; Eze_33:22).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth,

that thou shall be dumb,.... Which is to be understood not literally, as if he was really struck dumb, as Zechariah was; see Eze 4:9; but that such silence should be charged upon him by the Lord, that he should be as if his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth, as Kimchi interprets it, and as if he was a dumb man: and so the Septuagint version renders it, "I will bind thy tongue"; lay an embargo upon it, that is, it shall be silent; and this sense is confirmed by what follows:

and shall not be to them a reprover; which was in judgment to them, and a giving them up to their own hearts' lusts; for, though reproofs were disagreeable to them, and they chose to be without them, yet they were necessary for them, and might have been useful to them; but they provoking the Lord, he takes away his word from them, and commands his prophet to be silent, and let them alone, to go on in their sins without control; which was a sore judgment upon them:

for they are a rebellious house; See Gill on Eze 2:5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And I will make - Rather, Then will I “make.” One action is the consequence of the other. Because the people would silence the prophet, God to punish them will close his mouth (compare Isa 6:9; Mat 13:14).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

House. "When there is a multitude of sins, (or sinners; peccatorum) the offenders are unworthy of being corrected by the Lord." (St. Jerome) --- The prophet’s silence might suffice to admonish them. (Calmet) --- He heard the Lord’s commands to chap. xi. 24., before he spoke to the people. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Either by forbidding thee to speak, I will make thee as dumb as if thy tongue did cleave to the roof of thy mouth; or possibly God did suspend his influence, and leave the prophet dumb, as one who could not move his tongue, the use whereof is taken away.

A reprover; a man to reprove (as Heb.); shalt tell them as little of their faults and danger as a dumb man can do. God hereby giving the prophet some respite, signifying the future state of the Jews would be such they should no more dare to mutter or whisper; and punishing the refractory deafness of the Jews with taking away their reprover, &c.

A rebellious house: see Eze 2:5,7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. Thou shalt be dumb — He who had previously refused to speak now finds himself unable to speak (compare Luk_1:20), and this dumbness is also to teach both himself and the people the lesson that his tongue is now fully controlled by Jehovah. God can speak through obedient silence as truly as through the most eloquent tongue. It is only disobedient silence which is condemned (Eze_3:15). When the preacher is so moved by “the spirit” that he cannot speak, the sermon becomes impressive. This verse explains why, unlike other prophets, almost all Ezekiel’s sermons are preached in sign language. Not until after the capture of Jerusalem did Ezekiel fully recover the use of the tongue which he had so despised (Eze_24:27; Eze_33:22). Was this dumbness produced by physical disease (Klostermann, Orelli), or was it merely the sealing of the prophet’s lips by the divine commandment? Probably the latter; as in that case the lesson to the people would have been more certainly recognized.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 26, 27. Dumbness sad speech.

The wise man has said, "There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." There are those who speak when they would do well to hold their peace; there are those who are speechless when it becomes them to utter their mind with boldness. A prophet is emphatically one who speaks for God; a silent prophet is a paradox. Yet, as Ezekiel was, of all his order, the one whose ministry was especially a ministry of symbol, it is only in harmony with his peculiar vocation that, for a time and for a purpose, he should be as one dumb. On the other hand, the abundance of his utterances is apparent from the length to which the book of his prophecies extends. There were reasons fur both his dumbness and his speech.

I THE TESTIMONY OF SILENCE. That God should enjoin one of his own prophets to silence is certainly a very remarkable fact, and one that needs explanation.

1. It is evidence of Israel"s unbelief and inattention. When the peoplerefused to hear, there was a solemn dignity in the refusal of the prophet any longer to speak.

2. It is in rebuke of Israel"s attempt to silence the Lord"s messenger. Thepeople would have their monitor hold his peace; and God gave them their will. The oracle was dumb.

3. The silencing of the prophet was judicial. Punishment is a reality; and severe indeed is the penalty inflicted upon that nation in which the voice of God"s prophets is silenced. The effects of such sin recoil upon the sinners" heads.

4. Such silencing was suggestive. It offered opportunity for reflection; itcalled for consideration regarding the future; it may well have appeared to the thoughtful premonitory of worse calamities to follow.

II THE TESTIMONY OF SPEECH.

1. This is the result of Divine preparation: "When I speak with thee, I willopen thy mouth." The same power which, at one time and for one purpose, closes the lips, at another time and lot another purpose, opens them. So long as God withholds the message, the prophet is silenced; no sooner is the message conveyed to the prophet than he is empowered to utter it.

2. This is in fulfilment of a Divine commission: "Thou shalt say unto Them,thus saith the Lord God." A command like this may well unseal the lips. The man who is convinced that he is justified in thus prefacing his utterances may well speak, whether his message be palatable or unpalatable, whether it bring the messenger praise or blame from his fellow men. 3 This accompanied by Divine authority: "He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear." It is for the people"s own advantage that the prophet witnesses; if he warns, it is that they may escape threatened danger; if he promises, it is that they may obtain blessings; if he commands, it is that they may obey, and secure the rewards of obedience. Accordingly, it is for the people to consult their own highest interests. But in any case they are subject to Divine authority; from that, and all that it involves, there is no escape.

APPLICATION.

1. God has different ways of dealing with men; sometimes not onlydifferent, but apparently opposite ways, as in the case before us. And indeed, one man may be reached and benefited by speech; another man, by silence.

2. In whatever way God deals with us, we are equally and inevitablyresponsible. It is indeed in our power to hear or to forbear, i.e. to obey or to disobey. But to every man faith and obedience bring blessing; and moreover (which is still more important), they are in themselves right and becoming. Ours is the privilege; ours is the accountability for its proper use. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I - I will make thee as dumb as if thy tongue clave to the roof of thy mouth.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

The Spirit continues speaking to Ezekiel.

the roof of your mouth

"the top of your mouth"

you will be mute

"you will not be able to speak"

house

This is a metonym for the family that lives in the house, in this case the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob over many years. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:5. AT: "people group" (See: Metonymy)

I will open your mouth

"I will make you able to speak"

the one who will not listen will not listen

"the one who refuses to listen will not listen"

Lord Yahweh

See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:4.

translationWords

rebuke

Lord Yahweh

house

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.