A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to rend - garments, in mourning (Joel 2:13). Figurative, 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). Jacob is the type of the people of God in all ages, who need, like him, to be afflicted temporarily for sin, that self may be mortified, and that so, in God's good time, their rent may be repaired everlastingly (Genesis 37:34; Genesis 45:27-28). The very time when God rent the temple-veil was that wherein he was preparing to destroy "the veil that is spread over all nations" (Isaiah 25:7).
A time to keep silence (Amos 5:13) - in a national calamity, or that of a friend (Job 2:13); also not to complain under God's visitation (Leviticus 10:3; Psalms 39:1-2; Psalms 39:9).
A time to speak - when God opens the door of utterance to His people (Acts 18:9; 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12).