7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Rend - i. e., Tear garments in sign of mourning or anger. See 2-Samuel 1:2, 2-Samuel 1:11 ff.
A time to rend, - sew, - keep silence, - speak - -
"Intestine broils
And factions rend a state: at length the breach
Is heal'd, and rest ensues. Wisdom restrains
The tongue, when words are vain: but now,
'Tis time to speak, and silence would be criminal."
A time to rend, and a time to sew,.... To rend garments, in case of blasphemy, and in times of mourning and fasting, and then to sew them up when they are over; see Isaiah 37:1; This the Jews apply to the rending of the ten tribes from Rehoboam, signified by the rending of Jeroboam's garment, 1-Kings 11:30; the sewing up or uniting of which is foretold, Ezekiel 37:22. Some interpret it of the rending of the Jewish church state, signified by the rending of the vail, at the death of Christ; and of the constituting the Gospel church state among the Gentiles;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak (k); when it is an evil time, a time of calamity in a nation, it is not a time to be loquacious and talkative, especially in a vain and ludicrous way, Amos 5:13; or when a particular friend or relation is in distress, as in the case of Job and his friends, Job 2:13; or when in the presence of wicked men, who make a jest of everything serious and religious, Psalm 39:1; and so when under afflictive dispensations of Providence, it is a time to be still and dumb, and not open the mouth in a murmuring and complaining way, Leviticus 10:3. And, on the other hand, there is a time to speak, either publicly, of the truths of the Gospel, in the ministry of it, and in vindication of them; or privately, of Christian experience: there is a time when an open profession should be made of Christ, his word and ordinances, and when believers should speak to God in prayer and praise; which, should they not, the stones in the wall would cry out.
(k) , , Homer. Odyss. 11. v. 378.
rend--garments, in mourning (Joel 2:13); figuratively, nations, as Israel from Judah, already foretold, in Solomon's time (1-Kings 11:30-31), to be "sewed" together hereafter (Ezekiel 37:15, Ezekiel 37:22).
silence-- (Amos 5:13), in a national calamity, or that of a friend (Job 2:13); also not to murmur under God's visitation (Leviticus 10:3; Psalm 39:1-2, Psalm 39:9).
7a. "To rend has its time, and to sew has its time." When evil tidings come, when the tidings of death come, then is the time for rending the garments (2-Samuel 13:31), whether as a spontaneous outbreak of sorrow, or merely as a traditionary custom. - The tempest of the affections, however, passes by, and that which was torn is again sewed together.
Perhaps it is the recollection of great calamities which leads to the following contrasts: -
7b. "To keep silence has its time, and to speak has its time." Severe strokes of adversity turn the mind in quietness back upon itself; and the demeanour most befitting such adversity is silent resignation (cf. 2-Kings 2:3, 2-Kings 2:5). This mediation of the thought is so much the more probable, as in all these contrasts it is not so much the spontaneity of man that comes into view, as the pre-determination and providence of God.
The following contrasts proceed on the view that God has placed us in relations in which it is permitted to us to love, or in which our hatred is stirred up: -
To rent - When men rend their garments, as they did in great and sudden griefs.
*More commentary available at chapter level.