Ecclesiastes 3:7

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to rend - garments, in mourning (). Figurative, nations, as Israel from Judah, already foretold in Solomon's time (), to be 'sewed' together hereafter (; ). Jacob is the type of the people of God in all ages, who need, like him, to be afflicted temporarily for sin, that self may be mortified, and that so, in God's good time, their rent may be repaired everlastingly (; ). The very time when God rent the temple-veil was that wherein he was preparing to destroy "the veil that is spread over all nations" ().

A time to keep silence () - in a national calamity, or that of a friend (); also not to complain under God's visitation (; Psalms 39:1; ).

A time to speak - when God opens the door of utterance to His people (; ; ).