Ezekiel 3:27

Eventually the prophet's mouth will be opened, his word will be confirmed, and he will no more have to speak to incredulous ears. (Comp. ch. Ezekiel 29:21). During the existence of the kingdom all the prophets from Amos downward had stood in opposition to the mass of the people. Their teaching whether on religion or on policy ran counter to the inclinations of the multitude. The fall of the state, however, which they had so unanimously predicted gave them consideration in the eyes of the people, and led even the unthinking masses to feel that they were true interpreters of the mind of God and of his government. Passages like ch. Ezekiel 33:10, "Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them; how then should we live?" shew the change taking place in the people's thoughts, and how they were coming round to take that view of their history which this prophet, as well as his predecessors, had so persistently inculcated. It is not easy to form any clear conception of the prophet's ministry during the years preceding the fall of the state, but such passages as the above suggest the kind of thoughts which he expresses under the symbols of "dumbness" and "opening of the mouth." It is unnecessary to say that the "binding" of the prophet here (Ezekiel 3:25), which continues till the fall of Jerusalem, is quite different from the binding in ch. Ezekiel 4:8, which lasts only for a period of days, and is a symbol of Israel bearing its iniquity in exile.