Ezekiel 4:13

13 And Yahweh said, "Thus shall the {Israelites} eat their unclean food among the nations {where I will scatter them}."

Ezekiel 4:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 4:13

And the Lord said, even thus shall the children of Israel,
&c.] 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 ^F11 cite this passage to prove that he that eats bread without drying his hands is as if he ate defiled bread.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 T. Bab. Sota, fol, 4. 2.

Ezekiel 4:13 In-Context

11 And {an amount of water} you shall drink, a sixth of a hin; {at fixed times} you shall drink [it].

12 And [as a] bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and {with human excrement} you shall bake it before their eyes."

13 And Yahweh said, "Thus shall the {Israelites} eat their unclean food among the nations {where I will scatter them}."

14 And I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and {unclean meat} has not come into my mouth!"

15 And he said to me, "See I will give you {cattle manure} in the place of the feces of a human, and you may prepare your food on it."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [b]. Literally "which I will scatter them there"