Ezekiel 24:25

"And thou, son of man, shall it not be the day when I take from them, their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters, that in that day he that escapeth shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? In that day shall thy mouth be opened unto 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."

THE THIRD SIGN: EZEKIEL'S SILENCE TO END

It will be recalled that in the very beginning of Ezekiel's ministry, God had, except in the matter of specific prophecies which he was commanded to deliver, forbidden Ezekiel to speak freely to the people; but all of that would be changed at the end of the siege. (See Ezekiel 3:22-27). "The fall of Jerusalem would release Ezekiel from all restrictions."[20]

Howie seemed to believe that the removal of such restrictions should have led immediately to his prophecies of hope and restoration; but the true restoration of Israel could not come until the evil nations had received their own judgments from God.

"In that day ..." (Ezekiel 24:26-27). "This clearly is a reference to the day of the fall of Jerusalem."[21] That was the day when God took away the desire of their eyes, their hopes, their treasures, their fortification, the lives of the vast majority of them, their pride, and their confidence. It was the most tragic day in the long and terrible history of Israel, in fact, being exceeded in shame and sorrow by only one other day in the history of mankind, that being the one in which Israel, through its chosen leaders, cried, "We have no king but Caesar! .... His blood be upon us and our children."

This concluded Ezekiel's prophecies against Jerusalem. "There was no further need to keep repeating God's threats and warnings. The die was cast; there remained only for Ezekiel to await the fulfillment of the predictions already made."[22]

"The news of the fall of Jerusalem came to Ezekiel three years later."[23] "Until the fall of Jerusalem occurred, and Ezekiel had received the message of it's happening, he suspended his prophecies, as far as the Jews were concerned."[24]

Canon Cook's final observations on this chapter are as follows:

"For four whole years, Ezekiel had been engaged in foretelling the disasters that would happen to Jerusalem. He had been, throughout that period, utterly disregarded by the citizens of Jerusalem; and, although the captives apparently respected him, they absolutely refused to believe anything that he prophesied. Now, that the city had fallen, the voice of prophecy would cease, as far as God's people were concerned. This accounts for the fact that the next section of the prophecy is a series relating to the neighboring nations surrounding Israel (Ezekiel 25-32). After that series, the voice of Ezekiel is again heard addressing the exiles. This explains the apparently parenthetical nature of the next eight chapters."[25]