22 And the hand of the Lord was upon me there. And he said to me, “Arise, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you.” 23 So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face. 24 But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house. 25 And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. 26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.
Once again, in these verses, Ezekiel experiences a theophany - as if to remind and reassure him that the Divine Presence would be with him in all his exacting tasks, and could reappear at any time to encourage and strengthen him. This encounter with God is deeply significant. Once again Ezekiel is withdrawn from the captive exiles into solitude with God. It is always thus that God speaks and communes with us and reveals Himself. The commission that is given him, however, (24, 26) seems to be in contradiction to the earlier command to speak out as a watchman (17ff), for now he is to be dumb and not speak to the people. Yet, in 27 his mouth is again to be open. Perhaps it is best to take this complicated passage to mean that Ezekiel was to speak only at the express command of God and at no other time. If there were no express revelation or disclosure from God to speak forth, he was to be silent, and not be tempted by the exiles to speak if God had not given him a specific word. If they came to him and asked 'What do you think about this or that situation?', he would not be, like so many of us, prompt to express an opinion, but would speak only when God impressed upon him to speak, and at other times he would be utterly silent.