Ezekiel 4:13

13. eat their defiled bread] Rather: eat their bread unclean. This is the meaning of the symbol: the food which the people shall eat among the nations will be unclean. In a pathetic passage of Hosea it is said: “they shall not dwell in the Lord’s land; but Ephraim shall eat unclean food in Assyria. They shall not pour out wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him; their bread shall be unto them as the bread of mourners, all that eat thereof shall be polluted; for their bread shall be for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of the Lord” (ch. Eze_9:3-4 R.V. marg.). A foreign land was in itself unclean (Amo_7:17), no presence of Jehovah sanctified it; all food eaten in it was also common for it was not hallowed by part of it being brought into the house of the Lord and offered to him. Food eaten among the heathen was as the bread of mourners in Israel, all who partook of it were polluted. But as the words of the prophet suggest (Eze_4:14) in addition to this general uncleanness the people were forced in their straits or induced to eat many things actually prohibited by the Law, such as that which died of itself or was torn by wild beasts (ch. Eze_44:31; Lev_17:15; Deu_14:21. Comp. Isa_65:4). And it is natural that in the sore famine during the siege such unclean food was eaten, as indeed more terrible practices prevailed (ch. Eze_5:10). Eze_4:13 appears in a shorter form in LXX., but there is no reason to regard the whole verse as a gloss.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 4:13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.

Ver. 13. Eat their defiled bread.] Not able now to observe that ceremonial purity in their meats which God had commanded. This was just upon them for their worshipping those their dungy deities.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 4:13. Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles — The prophet, speaking above of eating and drinking by weight and measure, foretels the famine in Jerusalem; now in the bread baked with dung is also pre-signified the unclean bread which the children of Israel were to eat among the Gentiles. For their circumstances in their captivity would not permit them to observe the rules of their law relating to unclean meats; and they would be constrained to partake of meats, part of which had been offered to idols. Compare Hos 9:1-3; Dan 1:8. Bread is often used in the Hebrew for all sorts of food.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Implying that Israel's peculiar distinction was to be abolished and that they were to be outwardly blended with the idolatrous heathen (Deu 28:68; Hos 9:3).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(13) Eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles.—The Mosaic law purposely so hedged the people about with detailed precepts in regard to their food and its preparation, that it was impossible for them to share the food of the Gentiles without contracting ceremonial defilement; and the declared object of this symbolism is to teach that the Israelites should thus be forced to contract defilement. Their sins had brought them to that pass, which is so often the result of continued and obdurate sin, that it should be impossible for them to avoid further transgression. Ezekiel shows by his reply, in Eze_4:14, that like St. Peter, in Act_10:14, he had ever been a scrupulous observer of the law. To St. Peter, however, it was made known that in the breadth of the Christian dispensation this ceremonial law was now done away, while to Ezekiel it still remained in full force.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord said, even thus shall the children of Israel,.... Not the ten tribes only, or those who were among the other two, but all the Jews in captivity:

eat the defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them; so called, not because mixed, but baked in the above manner; which was a symbol of the defilements which they should contract upon various accounts, by dwelling among the Gentiles; so that this foretells their captivity; their pollution among the nations of the world; and that they should not be the holy people to the Lord they had been, and had boasted of. The Jews (k) cite this passage to prove that he that eats bread without drying his hands is as if he ate defiled bread.

(k) T. Bab. Sota, fol, 4. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The ceremonial ordinances in relation to food were intended to keep the nation free from idolatrous usages; everywhere among the pagan idol feasts formed a leading part in their religious services, and idol meats were partaken of in common life. Dispersion among the Gentiles must have exposed the Jews to much which they regarded as common and unclean. In Ezekiel’s case there was a mitigation Eze 4:15 of the defilement, but still legal defilement remained, and the chosen people in exile were subjected to it as to a degradation.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Filthy. Israel was less careful to avoid uncleannesses than Juda. Hence the prophet eats only during 390 days, Osee ix. 3. (Calmet) --- While the city was pillage for forty days, the prisoners would procure better food, ver. 7. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This verse is a key to the former.

Even thus; scanty, mean, ill-dressed, and polluted in the very dressing, loathsome to any but starved bellies.

The children of Israel; not only the house of Judah, but all the rest of the children of Israel; not in the siege only, but this misery should pursue them.

Among the Gentiles; who would be ready enough to upbraid them, and twit them, as breaking the rules of their religion to fill their bellies: thus their sins would bring them to extremest want and shame.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Even thus shall the children of Israel, etc. The strange command takes a wider range. It symbolizes, not the literal horrors of the siege, but the "defiled bread" which even the exiles would be reduced to eat. So taken, the words remind us of the risk of eating unclean, food, which almost inevitably attended the position of the exiles (Hos_9:3; Dan_1:8) and which, it may be, Ezekiel had already tell keenly. There is obviously something more than can be explained by a reference to "the bitter bread of banishment," or to Dante"s "Come sa di sale" ("Par.," 17:58).

Defiled bread.

Among the many inconveniences of the exile this was to be included, that the Jews would not be able to secure that their food should be cooked in their own manner, and so kept free from ceremonial defilement. But is there not a latent irony in the suggestion of such a thing as a serious calamity? Does it not show that the spirit of the Pharisees, who would strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, had already appeared? These Jews, who would be so alarmed at the prospect of external defilement, had already corrupted and befound their souls with the vilest sin. Nevertheless, if they did feel the shame of the external defilement, it would come to them as a fitting retribution. Outward shame is the just penalty of inward sin.

I BREAD IS DEFILED WHEN IT IS TAKEN BY A SINNER. All that a bad man touches turns to corruption. The sweetest food becomes foul in the mouth of the wicked. A morally bad musician desecrates the good music which he tries to interpret by breathing into it a corrupt feeling. The best book will be degraded by an evil minded reader. Such a person will contrive to extract sinful suggestions from the Bible; and then perhaps he will even denounce the sacred volume as immoral in its tendency.

II BREAD IS DEFILED WHEN IT IS GOT BY EVIL MEANS. The finest wheaten loaf is a corrupt thing when it has been stolen. A dishonest style of business degrades all its proceeds. When a man grows fat on the gains which he has extorted from the helpless by cunning or force, he has brought moral degradation into his home and corruption to his table. The very bread with which he feeds his innocent children is a vile thing, and the hungry poor whom his wicked practices are starving may have the consolation of knowing that the crusts they gnaw in reeking cellars are cleaner in the sight of God than the dainties of his sumptuous banquets.

III BREAD IS DEFILED WHEN IT IS EATEN IN AN UNWORTHY SPIRIT. If the hand of the Giver is ignored, the bread is at once degraded. It becomes but a dead mass of earth. The heavenly hand that gave it makes its highest value. Taken in faith and gratitude, the common bread of a daily meal has something of a sacramental nature in it. But ingratitude spoils all. The Israelites, loathing the manna in the wilderness and murmuring against their God, did their worst to corrupt the heavenly gift.

IV BREAD IS DEFILED WHEN IT IS EATEN FOR AN UNWORTHY PURPOSE.

1. It may be devoured in low animal greed and lust of food. Then the Divine sanctity of it vanishes, and it becomes a degraded thing. The glutton who lives to eat defiles the best bread. So, too, the man who accepts the other gifts of Providence which are bestowed upon him, solely for self indulgence, lowers and vitiates all he consumes.

2. It may be converted into energy for sin. The bad man goes forth and does wickedly in the strength of the bread which the holy God has given to fit him for the service of goodness. Can any act of defilement be worse than that? To preserve our bread from corruption let us recollect the apostolic direction, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unclean An expression of repugnance.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.