John Gill Commentary Ecclesiastes 3:7

"a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;" — Ecclesiastes 3:7 (ASV)

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) (Joel 2:13). 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 1 Kings 11:31); 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
^F11; 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, (Psalms 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) (Psalms 39:9) (46:10).

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F11:
  F11 (wrh men polewn muywn, wrh de kai upnou) , Homer. Odyss. 11. v. 378.