Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 4:12

And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

12. It was customary in the East to use the dung of animals when perfectly dried as fuel. The hot ashes remaining from it are perfectly clean, and retaining their glow for a considerable time were used for firing cakes upon or under. See Wetzstein in Del. Job, p. 261 (Trans. i. p. 377). Whether the Hebrews would have considered such fuel unclean is not certain (cf. Lev 5:3; Lev 7:21; Deu 23:13); the material for firing which the prophet is commanded to use would certainly be unclean (Deu 23:13) as well as loathsome. The command is explained in Eze 4:13.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In eastern countries where fuel is scarce the want is supplied by dried cow-dung laid up for the winter. Barley cakes were (and are) baked under hot ashes without an oven. The dung here is to be burned to ashes, and the ashes so employed.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 12. Thou shalt bake it with dung] Dried ox and cow dung is a common fuel in the east; and with this, for want of wood and coals, they are obliged to prepare their food. Indeed, dried excrement of every kind is gathered. Here, the prophet is to prepare his bread with dry human excrement. And when we know that this did not come in contact with the bread, and was only used to warm the plate, (see Eze 4:3,) on which the bread was laid over the fire, it removes all the horror and much of the disgust. This was required to show the extreme degree of wretchedness to which they should be exposed; for, not being able to leave the city to collect the dried excrements of beasts, the inhabitants during the siege would be obliged, literally, to use dried human ordure for fuel. The very circumstances show that this was the plain fact of the case. However, we find that the prophet was relieved from using this kind of fuel, for cow’s dung was substituted at his request. See Eze 4:15.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

As barley cakes: these were delicacies with them when they could temper and make them right, but now these pitiful things should be to these half-starved bodies as delicates, Or rather, because they were greedy, and could not stay till they were baked. Or, lest any should take it from them. Or, because they never had enough to make a loaf with, they eat them as barley cakes.

With dung; there would be no wood left for such necessary uses, nor yet dung of other creatures, they would be all consumed by the length of the siege too. What loathsome food was this! yet in this straitness of the siege they are brought to it.

In their sight; openly, that any might see it. From this passage some conclude this was actually done, and not only represented in a vision.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. dungas fuel; so the Arabsuse beasts’ dung, wood fuel being scarce. But to use human dung soimplies the most cruel necessity. It was in violation of the law(Deu 14:3; Deu 23:12-14);it must therefore have been done only in vision.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes,…. That is, the bread made of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was to be made in the form of barley cakes, and to be baked as they; not in an oven, but under ashes; and these ashes not of wood, or straw, or turf, but as follows:

and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of men, in their sight: the prophet was to take human dung, and dry it, and then cover the cakes or loaves of his mixed bread with it, and burn it over them, and with it bake it; which must be a very disagreeable task to him, and make the food very nauseous, both to himself and to the Jews, in whose sight it was done; and this shows scarcity of fuel, and the severity of the famine; that they had not fuel to bake with, or could not stay till it was baked in an oven, and therefore took this method; as well as points at what they were to eat when carried captive, as follows:

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

This vision properly belongs to the ten tribes, and, for this reason, I have said that God’s vengeance is not to be considered as to the siege of the city alone, but to be extended longer. After the Prophet had spoken of the siege of Jerusalem, he adds, that their reward was prepared for the children of Israel, because a just God was the avenger of each people. As, therefore, he punished the remnant who as yet remained at Jerusalem, so he avenged the wickedness of the ten tribes in exile at Babylon. For this reason the Prophet is ordered to cook a cake with dung: that is, he is commanded to take human dung instead of fuel: nor does he simply say dung, but the dung of men. By and bye the application follows. Thus the children of Israel shall eat their polluted bread among the Gentiles Now, therefore, we see that the Jews are at length drawn to judgment, because they had not been so touched with the slaughter of their brethren as to repent, but, in the meantime, the wrath of God was conspicuous against the ten tribes, because among the Gentiles those miserable exiles were compelled to eat their bread polluted. We know that cakes are made of the finest flour, for the purer the flour the more delicate is the bread, but the Prophet is ordered to make cakes of barley, and then to cook them in dung, for that uncleanness was forbidden by the law. (Lev 5:3; Lev 7:21.) Therefore God signifies, that the Israelites were so rejected that they differed in nothing from polluted nations; for the Lord had separated them as we know from the rest of the world: but from the time of their mingling themselves with the filth of the impious, at length, after long forbearance, they were altogether rejected as it is here said. For under this figure a universal pollution is signified, as if he had said, nothing is any longer holy or sacred in Israel, because they are mixed up with the pollutions of all nations: finally, the impure bread embraces within itself all kinds of impiety. Now when he says among the Gentiles, it means, that they would be such inhabitants of the lands among which they were driven, that they should be not only exiles but banished from the land of Canaan, which was their inheritance. In fine, a disinheriting is here marked, when the Jews are said to be driven about hither and thither, so as not to, dwell in the promised land. It follows —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(12) As barley cakes.These were commonly cooked in the hot ashes, hence the especial defilement caused by the fuel required to be used. Against this the prophet pleads, not merely as revolting in itself, but as ceremonially polluting (Eze. 4:14; see Lev. 5:3; Lev. 7:21), and a mitigation of the requirement is granted to him (Eze. 4:15).

In their sightThis is still a part of the vision. The words have been thought to determine that the whole transaction was an actual symbolic act and not a vision; but this does not follow. It need only have been a part of the vision that what was done was done publicly.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

12. The supply of wood in a besieged city must soon give out. Camels’ and asses’ dung, which is the ordinary fuel for poor people in Egypt and Palestine even to this day, could not be used because the beasts were all dead. Besides, the once “holy people” have lost all sense of shame. This vividly represents the loathesomeness and uncleanness of the people (Eze 4:13; compare Deu 23:13), and was as revolting to Ezekiel as to us (Lev 5:3; Lev 7:21). Henceforth the once holy people, having been driven out of the Lord’s land because of their sins, will eat their bread defiled (Eze 4:13; Hos 9:3).

As barley cakes He shall eat it as barley cakes the ordinary food of the poorest classes are eaten. Does this mean that after being baked in the coals it is to be eaten ravenously?

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you will bake it in their sight with excrement that comes out of a man.”

‘Barley cakes’ indicates the poor man’s food. They were, as described earlier, made up of a mixture of ingredients. It was to be ‘baked in their sight’, possibly on heated stones or an iron plate. The onlookers would be watching someone surviving ‘under siege’.

The use of human excrement for fuel would appal not only Ezekiel but also the onlookers, yet in times of siege it would occur. Compare Deu 23:13-14 where it was to be buried out of sight to prevent defilement.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eze 4:12. Thou shalt bake, &c. See Lam 4:5 and 1Sa 2:8 where the applicableness of the account concerning the frequent burning of dung in the East, to the case of Ezekiel, is visible. Commentators have remarked something of it; but I do not remember to have met with any who have thoroughly entered into the spirit of the divine command: they only observe, that several nations make use of cow-dung for fuel. The prophet was first enjoined to make use of human dung in the preparation of his food, though at length he obtained permission to use cow-dung for the baking of that bread, which was to be expressive of the miserable food that Israel should be obliged to eat in their dispersion among the Gentiles. Had this been ordered at first, it would by no means have fully or sufficiently expressed those necessities, and that filthiness in their way of living, to which they were to be reduced; for many of the eastern people very commonly use cow-dung in the baking of their bread; he therefore was ordered to make use of human dung, which was terribly significant of the extremities which they were to undergo: no nation made use of that horrid kind of fuel; whereas the other was very common, though it is not very agreeable for the purpose; the bread so baked being burnt, smoaky, and disagreeably tasted. If cow-dung was frequently used in Palestine for fuel, as we have reason to think wood was not more plentiful there anciently, when the country was much fuller of inhabitants, than it is now (see Lam 5:4.); its extreme slowness in burning must make the quickness of the fire of thorns very observable, and give life to that passage in Ecc 7:6. As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool, and to some other places, which have not, I think, been duly observed. The contrast is extremely remarkable. La Roque, taking notice of the excessive slowness of the one, informs us, that it is a common thing among the Arabs on this account to threaten a person with burning him in cow-dung, when they would menace him with a dreadful lingering punishment. On the other hand, every one must be apprized of the short-lived violence of the fire of thorns, furze, and things of that kind: but to make the thought complete, it is necessary to add, that cow-dung, this very slow fuel, is that which is commonly used; and thorns, &c. but seldom. See Observations, p. 140 and Psa 58:9. How thankful should we be for the plenty of good fuel that we enjoy!

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eze 4:12 And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

Ver. 12. And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes. ] Baked on coals made of homely fuel, man’s dung burnt. a

And thou shalt bake it with dung. ] For want of wood. Lam 5:4 To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Pro 27:7

In their sight. ] This, then, was more than a vision.

a Panem exhibuit Papa non ad purum ignem, sed ad oleta Quaestionariorum, Sorbonistarum, et Canonicorum coctum. – Pol.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)