Proverbs 31:8,9,  Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Lemuel’s mother continues in her instruction to the son of her vows.

She has commanded him to remain pure of the control of women.

She tells him of the danger of perverted judgment of the afflicted by the drinking of wine and strong drink.

She has a heart for the afflicted and she desires to impart that same kind of heart to her son.

She desires that he give that which he denies himself in the service of others who are ready to perish or of heavy hearts.

She knows that mercy is a pillar of the throne as:

Proverbs 20:28 tells us,  Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.

She vows a merciful and a compassionate son.

She knows that mercy will uphold the throne.

Lack of mercy will result in destruction of the throne.

She now tells him to open his mouth when the occasion demands an open mouth.

She knows that there is a time to keep silence and there is a time to speak.

She wants her son to know when that time is.

She wants her son to be discerning and to know when to have an open mouth or a closed mouth.

Lemuel, it is right to open your mouth for those who are not given the power to speak on their own behalf.

You are to use the mouth that God gave to you to represent those who cannot protect themselves.

So she instructs her son, Prov 31:8,  Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.

Did not the LORD say unto Moses in Exo 4:11,  Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

The Lord makes one to be dumb, one to be deaf, one to be seeing, one to be blind.

The Lord gives you a mouth King Lemuel to open in behalf of those whose mouth does not open.

Perhaps you have a tongue so that you may exercise mercy and compassion upon those whose tongue is stopped.

If you do not open your mouth perhaps no one will open his mouth and justice may be perverted and the dumb may be destroyed!

Have we not been told by God that Job .. was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. Job was a father to the poor: and the cause which Job knew not he searched out.

Job opened his mouth when the open mouth was called for!

Did not Esther plead the cause of the dumb?

What voice did the Jews have in the kingdom of Persia?

Isolated from their homeland in an alien country were they not as dumb?

Did not Esther place her life on the line, when she opened her mouth fearing death but by opening her mouth prevented the adversary and enemy Haman from carrying out his wicked plan?

..... What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.  Esther 7:2

Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage. Esther 7:3,4

Would not the Jews have been destroyed had it not been for the open mouth of Queen Esther?

Esther said if I perish, I perish.

But even though she feared perishing as a result of opening her mouth to the king she purposed to open it to save her people.

She knew when to have a closed mouth and she knew when to have an open mouth.

We are not to glory in closed mouths.

There are times when our mouths are to be opened.

There are times when we are to judge righteously and plead the cause of those who are unable to plead their cause.

Our mouths, if never opened for the cause of Christ, for the cause of justice and mercy, are mouths that have not been presented to God as a living sacrifice.

They are mouths that have not been conformed to the image of the Son for the Son according to Psalm 72:12-14,  shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.  He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

God evens things out for the poor and needy who cry to him.

He knows that the world is against them and they need a champion and he intends to be that champion.

And he desires that his children follow in his footsteps.

The psalmist in Psalm 81:10 records the command of God to the children of Israel,  I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

That is the key to knowing when to have an open mouth.

It starts with the open mouth turned to God as that part of the living sacrificial body presented to God for his service.

In order to have the properly opened mouth we are to open our mouth to the Lord wide and he will fill it.

Only by taking in that which God has to fill our mouth will we have anything worthwhile to let out when the time comes to open our mouth for the dumb, the oppressed and the afflicted.

Present your mouth to God for his filling so that which comes out of your open mouth is effective in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.

The Lord Jesus Christ had no such advocate with open mouth for  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

No one was found to open their mouth in the defense of the afflicted one, for all had hid as it were their faces from him, we esteemed him not enough to open our mouths.

The Lord Jesus Christ willingly became dumb for our sakes.

He could have opened his mouth in order to defend himself but if he did his blood would not have been shed for us and he would not have died for us.

He shed his blood and died for us and opened not his mouth to defend himself so that our mouths may be opened for his sake.