Bible Dictionaries
Muteness

Holman Bible Dictionary

The inability to speak. In the Old Testament muteness is traced to God (Exodus 4:11 ). God made Ezekiel mute (Ezekiel 3:26 ) in response to Israel's failure to listen to his message. Later He restored Ezekiel's speech (Ezekiel 24:27; Ezekiel 33:22 ) as a sign of the people's receptiveness to hear. Daniel experienced muteness in response to the appearance of a heavenly messenger (Daniel 10:15 ). The psalmist considered muteness an appropriate punishment for liars (Psalm 31:18 ). By extension, to be mute means to hold one's peace (Psalm 39:2 ,Psalms 39:2,39:9; Isaiah 53:7; Acts 8:32 ), especially in the face of injustice. In Proverbs 31:8 the mute are the symbol of all those who suffer without a voice. Isaiah 56:10 pictures Israel's leaders as mute dogs who cannot bark a warning. In Isaiah 35:6 the singing of those once mute accompanies return from the Exile. In Habakkuk 2:18-19 idols are mocked as mutes (also 1 Corinthians 12:2 ).

In the New Testament muteness is either not explained (Mark 7:32 ,Mark 7:32,7:37 ) or else attributed to demons (Matthew 9:32; Matthew 12:22; Mark 9:17 ,Mark 9:17,9:25; Luke 11:14 ). An exception is Zechariah's muteness (Luke 1:20 ,Luke 1:20,1:22 ) which served as a sign of the truthfulness of Gabriel's message as well as a punishment for Zechariah's unbelief.