Ezekiel 4:14

4:9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.

Then said I, ah, Lord God!.... The interjection "ah" is expressive of sighing and groaning, as Jarchi; or of deprecation, as the Targum, which paraphrases it, ""and I said", receive my prayer, O Lord God:'' behold, my soul hath not been polluted; not meaning that his soul had not been polluted with sin, or with an evil thought, as Kimchi interprets it; but by his soul he means the inward part of his body, his stomach and belly; which had not been defiled by taking in meats which were unclean by the law, as follows: for from my youth up, even till now, have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; these were forbidden to be eaten by the law; and such that did were defiled, and obliged to bathing in water, Leviticus 17:15; and from those the priests more especially were careful to abstain, as Kimchi observes; and such an one was the prophet; see Acts 10:14; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth; corrupt or, putrefied, or whatsoever was unclean by law, as swine's flesh, or any other. The argument is, that since he had never eaten of anything forbidden by the law of God, he could by no means think of eating that which was abhorrent to nature; as bread baked with men's dung was.

Ezekiel 4:14-15 . Then said I, Ah, Lord God, &c. — He deprecates this, and entreats it may not be enjoined him. Behold, my soul hath not been polluted — I have always carefully observed the distinction between meats clean and unclean: I beseech thee, command me not now to eat any thing so contrary to my former practice. Neither came their abominable flesh into my mouth — The Hebrew word, פגול , abominable, is used of such meats as were forbidden by the law, as the learned reader may see, Leviticus 7:18 ; Leviticus 19:7 ; Isaiah 65:4 . Then he said, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung, &c. — This indicated, that even the pious would suffer greatly during the siege of Jerusalem; and that all the circumstances of things would admit of, would be a very small distinction between them and the wicked; for Ezekiel, God’s prophet, could only obtain the exchange of a somewhat less offensive kind of fuel for one extremely offensive.

Verse 14. - Then said I, Ah, Lord God! etc. The formula is, curiously enough, equally characteristic of Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 9:8 ; Ezekiel 11:13 ; Ezekiel 20:49 ) and of his teacher and contemporary ( Jeremiah 1:6 ; Jeremiah 4:10 ; Jeremiah 14:13 ; Jeremiah 32:17 ). The Vulgate represents it by A, a, a . His plea, which reminds us at once of Daniel 1:8 and Acts 10:14 , is that he has kept himself free from all ceremonial pollution connected with food. And is he, a priest too, to do this? That be far from him! Anything but that! The kinds of defilement of which he speaks are noted in Exodus 22:31 ; Leviticus 7:24 ; Leviticus 11:39, 40 ; Leviticus 17:15 . The "abominable things" may refer either to the unclean meats catalogued in Deuteronomy 14:3-21 (as e.g. in Isaiah 65:4 ), or as in the controversy of the apostolic age ( Acts 15 ; 1 Corinthians 8:1 ; Revelation 2:20 ), to eating any flesh that had been offered in sacrifice to idols. The prophet's passionate appeal is characteristic of the extent to which his character had been influenced by the newly discovered Law of the Lord ( 2 Kings 22 ; 2 Chronicles 34 .), i.e. probably by the Book of Deuteronomy. Ezekiel 4:14

14 . abominable flesh ] This word “abomination” is applied to the sacrificial flesh kept over till the third day ( Leviticus 7:18 ; Leviticus 19:7 ), and in Isaiah 65:4 broth of “abominations” is coupled with swine’s flesh. The meaning seems to be “carrion.” The word occurs only these four times.

Ah Lord God he deprecateth this, and entreats it may not be enjoined him. He proposeth his legal purity, as one argument; in obedience to ceremonial precepts, he had kept himself clean, and now prays that he may not have his obedience tried by enjoining to eat what is abominable. From my youth up; he took early care of this, and had persevered to this age; therefore prays mitigation, and some change in his diet or dressing of it. That which dieth of itself; forbidden as polluted, Exodus 22:31 Leviticus 17:15 Ezekiel 44:31 . Torn in pieces; forbidden by the law also, as Exodus 22:31 .

14. Ezekiel, as a priest, had been accustomed to the strictest abstinence from everything legally impure. Peter felt the same scruple at a similar command (Ac 10:14; compare Isa 65:4). Positive precepts, being dependent on a particular command can be set aside at the will of the divine ruler; but moral precepts are everlasting in their obligation because God cannot be inconsistent with His unchanging moral nature. abominable flesh—literally, "flesh that stank from putridity." Flesh of animals three days killed was prohibited (Le 7:17, 18; 19:6, 7).

The third symbolical act. - Ezekiel 4:9 . And do thou take to thyself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in a vessel, and prepare them as bread for thyself, according to the number of the days on which thou liest on thy side; three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat it. Ezekiel 4:10 . And thy food, which thou eatest, shall be according to weight, twenty shekels for a day; from time to time shalt thou eat it. Ezekiel 4:11 . And water shalt thou drink according to measure, a sixth part of the hin, from time to time shalt thou drink it. Ezekiel 4:12 . And as barley cakes shalt thou eat it, and shalt bake it before their eyes with human excrement. Ezekiel 4:13 . And Jehovah spake; then shall the children of Israel eat their bread polluted amongst the heathen, whither I shall drive them. Ezekiel 4:14 . Then said I: Ah! Lord, Jehovah, my soul has never been polluted; and of a carcase, and of that which is torn, have I never eaten from my youth up until now, and abominable flesh has not come into my mouth. Ezekiel 4:15 . Then said He unto me: Lo, I allow thee the dung of animals instead of that of man; therewith mayest thou prepare thy bread. Ezekiel 4:16 . And He said to me, Son of man, lo, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, so that they will eat bread according to weight, and in affliction, and drink water by measure, and in amazement. Ezekiel 4:17 .

Because bread and water shall fail, and they shall pine away one with another, and disappear in their guilt. - For the whole duration of the symbolical siege of Jerusalem, Ezekiel is to furnish himself with a store of grain corn and leguminous fruits, to place this store in a vessel beside him, and daily to prepare in the form of bread a measured portion of the same, 20 shekels in weight (about 9 ounces), and to bake this as barley cakes upon a fire, prepared with dried dung, and then to partake of it at the different hours for meals throughout the day. In addition to this, he is, at the hours appointed for eating, to drink water, in like manner according to measure, a sixth part of the hin daily, i.e., a quantity less than a pint (cf. Biblisch. Archol. II. p. 141). The Israelites, probably, generally prepared the עגּות from wheat flour, and not merely when they had guests ( Genesis 18:6 ). Ezekiel, however, is to take, in addition, other kinds of grain with leguminous fruits, which were employed in the preparation of bread when wheat was deficient; barley - baked into bread by the poor ( Judges 7:13 ; 2 Kings 4:42 ; John 6:9 ; see on 1 Kings 5:8 ); פּול, "beans," a common food of the Hebrews ( 2 Samuel 17:28 ), which appears to have been mixed with other kinds of grain for the purpose of being baked into bread. (Note: Cf. Plinii Histor.