Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 3:24

"Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thy house." — Ezekiel 3:24 (ASV)

“Shut” in the privacy of his own chamber, he is to receive a message from Yahweh. This “shutting up,” however, and the “bands” (Ezekiel 3:25, used figuratively) were signs of the manner in which Ezekiel’s countrymen would close their ears, hindering him as much as they could from delivering the message of the Lord.

With this verse commences a series of symbolic actions enjoined upon the prophet to foretell the coming judgments of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4; Ezekiel 5). Generally speaking, symbolic actions were either literal and public, or figurative and private. In the latter case, they impressed upon the prophet’s mind the truth which he was to enforce upon others by the description of the action as a figure. Difficulties have arisen because interpreters have not chosen to recognize the figurative as well as the literal mode of prophesying.

Hence, some, who would interpret everything literally, have had to accept the most strange and unnecessary actions as real; while others, who would interpret everything figuratively, have had to arbitrarily explain away the most plain historical statement. There may be a difference of opinion as to which class any particular figure may belong; but after all, the determination is not important, as the whole value of the parabolic figure resides in the lesson it is intended to convey.