THEOSISJerome of Stridon
The Lord declared that the Israelites would consume their impure bread among the nations into which He would cast them. I responded, “Ah, Lord God, my spirit has remained untouched; I have never eaten anything unclean or consumed flesh from a creature that died of itself since my youth, nor has unclean food entered my mouth.” He replied, “Look, I have provided you with cow dung instead of human waste, and with it, you shall prepare your bread.” Frequently, we encounter accounts of prophets, as noted in Zechariah, who are distinguished individuals whose actions foretell what is to come, and about whom God proclaims, “In the hands of the prophets I shall be likened” (Hos. 12:10).
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Just as Ezekiel partook of bread baked with excrement, so too shall the Israelites, or the entire Jewish nation, or perhaps even the ten tribes, eat or have consumed defiled bread among the nations. This warning pertains not to those already in exile, but to those who will be driven out from the promised land. When the prophet learned of this, he, as noted by Akilah, refused three times: “ah, ah, ah.” Instead, Symmachus and the Seventy translated it as “by no means.” Theodotion, on the other hand, rendered it as “oh Lord God.” We should not assume that he contradicted the Lord’s directive; rather, he offered reasons for his reluctance and sought exemption from such a command. Thus, he attained what he requested, and the strict command was tempered by a more lenient approach. One may wonder why Ezekiel hesitated over a lesser matter while Hosea immediately engaged with a harlot and did not protest about maintaining his own purity, as conveyed by the Apostle: “He who is joined to a harlot becomes one body with her” (1 Cor. 6:16). It is clear that Hosea served as a symbol of the synagogue or the Church, which transcends mere legalism, as we have explored in our interpretation of this prophet.
Dead meat refers to that which loses its life without the shedding of blood, in which the soul has departed, while meat torn by beasts is described in Greek as θηριάλωτον. The directive to use cow dung rather than human waste signifies relief from distress, for although it is prescribed to bake bread on cow dung, the defilement of human excrement is mitigated. Even today, there is a principle among the Jewish people prohibiting the consumption of bread baked on human waste. They do not worship idols or venerate various grotesque deities; rather, they eat bread cooked with cow dung, focusing solely on physical needs and earthly goods, adhering to the saying: “he who creates these things will live in them” (Lev. 18:5). Conversely, we renounce worldly desires and do not just disdain food fortified with human waste, nor do we place any value on temporal pleasures; we consume the bread that descends from heaven (John 6) and partake of that sustenance of which the Psalmist proclaims, “The bread of angels is provision for mankind” (Psalm 77:25), nourishing life not with the meats of Egypt but with the heavenly manna.