In our freezer there is a bag of bread. It was left there by the in-laws recently. We had tried this bread a few years ago, and I found it… not pleasing to my palate. It would be Ezekiel Bread. You can buy Ezekiel bread (or other products made from the recipe), or make your own from recipes found on-line.
One person writes this: “This is the bread that Ezekiel lived off of while he was in the desert for two years. It is supposed to be nutritionally complete. The recipe calls for grinding your own flour from a variety of grains and dried beans.”
The original ‘recipe’ is found in the 4th chapter of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. People describe this as a very healthy part of the “Maker’s Diet” meant to be a great big blessing for you.
I have a question: have these people ever read Ezekiel 4? This is another example of well-meaning people completely missing the boat.
In Ezekiel 4 he receives instructions for a series of symbolic acts to represent the hardships the people remaining in Jerusalem will undergo. Ezekiel is a priest who was among the early exiles before Jerusalem was utterly demolished in 586 BC. First he is told to lie on his left side for 390 days to bear the sin of the house of Israel. Then he will lie on his right side for 40 days to bear the sin of the house of Judah (verse 4-5). He will be tied up so he cannot turn from one side to the other until the seige is over (430 days). So, this is NOT a good thing.
In verse 9 he is given a recipe for bread to eat during this symbolic act. He is supposed to cook this bread over burning crap, to defile it. Ezekiel asks God to reconsider, so he is able to cook his over cow manure. This too is to represent the hardship of the people under seige in Jerusalem. They are rationing the food, and this is not to be seen as gourmet, top of the line stuff. And don’t forget the lack of firewood necessitating the burning of your own excrement.
So, taken in its proper context in redemptive history- this recipe is not to be seen as a sign of blessing, but of a curse. It means you have fallen to a very low estate as a result of your disobedience. And, you REALLY don’t want to have to eat this if you can avoid it. If you’ve tasted it, you’ll understand what I mean. But there are groups of people who think this is supposed to be great for you, precisely because they don’t seem to be able to read their Bibles in context. Many of us pastors have failed. I am sorry.
Cavman Considers 
Love this post 🙂
was reading Ezekiel last night, some pretty terrifying stuff. Would be tuff to preach from.
blessings, kristina
Yeah, there are chapters in Ezekiel that would prove unsuitable for Sunday morning in most churches. Maybe children’s church is a really good thing.
When the kids in our cong. were younger, I’d inform the parents to give them the option if one of those kinds of topics was the focus on the sermon. Many still remember my sermon on Exodus (19?) when I said “emission of semen” a few times. The Bible is far earthier than we want it to be sometimes.
It’s amazing how many people think that Ezekiel bread is supposed to be this wonderful bread. When I first heard about the bread, which was several years ago, I happened to read Ezekiel 4:9. And I am thinking did anyone bother to read this passage. It’s sad that the Christian community can be so gullible. And yeah it tastes disgusting.
Mr. Cavman, as someone who once was a person of faith, it was, in part studying the bible that lead to my abandonment of Christianity. I ask you, and I mean this with the greatest respect, do you believe that God actually was speaking to Ezekiel or that it is more likely that this is a story of a severely mentally ill individual?
Depends what you expect God to be like. If you’re thinking George Burns or Morgan Freeman… it sounds crazy.
But a God unlike us, who is holy, righteous, etc. … I think He actually spoke to Ezekiel.
Sorry the Word hardened your heart rather than softening it to the truth.
Cavman, while I do believe than many Christians imagine god as George Burns or Morgan freeman, those who have actually read the bible cannot.
So, with tens of thousands of people each year claiming to hear directly from the almighty, what makes you believe that a man who lay on his side for an entire year baking bread over cow dung, actually heard the word of god? I mean this in all earnestness.
Are you familiar with Jerusalem syndrome?
i read up on the syndrome you speak of, i personally don’t think Ezekiel had it, he was in captivity for years in Babylon, not in the holy place of jerusalem, the syndrome was only goes back to 19th century.
of these signs, how many really be be connected w/Zeke?
*Anxiety, agitation, nervousness and tension, plus other unspecified reactions.
*Declaration of the desire to split away from the group or the family and to tour Jerusalem alone. Tourist guides aware of the Jerusalem syndrome and of the significance of such declarations may at this point refer the tourist to an institution for psychiatric evaluation in an attempt to preempt the subsequent stages of the syndrome. If unattended, these stages are usually unavoidable.
*A need to be clean and pure: obsession with taking baths and showers; compulsive fingernail and toenail cutting.
*Preparation, often with the aid of hotel bed-linen, of a long, ankle-length, toga-like gown, which is always white.
*The need to scream, shout, or sing out loud psalms, verses from the Bible, religious hymns or spirituals. Manifestations of this type serve as a warning to hotel personnel and tourist guides, who should then attempt to have the tourist taken for professional treatment. Failing this, the two last stages will develop.
*A procession or march to one of Jerusalem’s holy places.
*Delivery of a ‘sermon’ in a holy place. The sermon is usually very confused and based on an unrealistic plea to humankind to adopt a more wholesome, moral, simple way of life.
I believe in all earnestness that Ezekiel and the OT prophets were being obedient to God when they heard and spoke His words. Who would do such crazy things for such a long period of time, against all they knew and the culture of the times, unless something or someone far greater than themselves asked them to.
I believe people can have that much faith.
I’m sorry also about your faith crisis.
I wish I had that much faith….
Sorry, Cavman for stepping in on your post/comments, was up all night thinking about this….
Have a great weekend! Kristina
Kristina,
no problem!
Rogue,
I think in the context, Ezekiel’s actions have incredible meaning. They were prophetic actions, indicating the coming judgment on those who remained in Judah. They sound odd removed from that context, but actually make sense when seen within it.
Hey Cavman and Kristina.
Thanks for your comments. I’m glad that everyone is doing the bible reading. Honestly, I don’t think enough Christians know their bible.
As for Kristina’s comments, I don’t believe there’s enough evidence in Ezekiel to diagnose him with any specific psychiatric disorder, but he certainly does exhibit some ‘curious’ behaviors, including anxiety, obsessive compulsive behaviors, and even what to many if not most observers would appear to be grand hallucinations which are curiously more grand after eating a scroll sweet as honey.
I don’t know where y’all are from, but here in Atlanta, if you go downtown you can see similar demonstrations being put on by all sorts of ‘prophets.’
My main goal is to encourage folks to actually read this stuff. If you do, and still find yourself believing that it was inspired by god, I can’t understand it, but at least you’ve read it which is more than most can say.
Have a great week.
Ezekiel 3:3
Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
Ezekiel 4:1
Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 3 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 5
1 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3 But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel.
Ezekiel 6
2 “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them 3 and say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols. 5 I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. 7 Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
Cheers,
Scott
[…] , craziness , Musings , shopping , family , food , health Cavman Considers had this post of Ezekiel bread, so when I saw this yesterday, I had to buy it, will use it for topping on […]
I bought the Ezekiel Bread 4:9 and I do like it. It is kept in my refrig. and is toasted when eaten. So people, there is someone who does like it. Thanks for making this bread!!!!
You know granted there are times we go through things and our hearts can either draw closer to God or draw us further but for the one who thinks Ezekiel was probably mentally ill, should reconsider that while things don’t make sense to our natural mind doesn’t make one crazy.
The Old Testament is a shadow of the New Testament, that means that some of the things done were to direct us and point us to Christ, His Teachings and His works. What would this one have to do with anything? I don’t have the answer to that yet but I guarantee there is one.
Hey I don’t think you or the Ezekiel Bread manufacturer get it at all…
What the “Biblical nutritionists” that I have read and respect are saying is not to look at the “recipe” as a good idea, but to see in the constituent elements foods with great nutritional value in them… heck, eating only that recipe kept Ezekiel alive all that time!
I am sure those loaves of bread DO taste pretty awful… that may have been part of God’s point.
BUT…
What I get out of all this is that God created the recipe’s ingredients to be loaded up with all kinds of healthful nutrients that can keep you alive for over a year, etc.
To my mind, there is no magic that happens when you bring these ingredients together as “Ezekiel Bread”. The wonder of it is in the Maker’s determination to pack these foods full of nutritional value (whether eaten together or not!).
That’s all.
– Alister
Next time I’m in the midst of a war-induced famine, I’ll remember the recipe. Until then… there is plenty of nutricious and delicious food that God have provided for my sustenance and pleasure.
I actually love this bread! The cinnamon raisin is my favorite, though the english muffins are pretty good, too.
Anything normal tastes bad to Americans. Of course the best tasting things in the world are big macs, coca-cola and fries!
In 2040 America is going ti be 100% obese according to experts predictions. So why bother to buy healthy simple food? Cheers, the country of MAcDonalds and idiots!
I buy Ezekiel bread, not because it’s supposedly biblical, but because I actually like it. But you’re right — taken in context, the bread isn’t exactly a good thing… Perhaps Food For Life should re-name and re-market their bread… It beats Wonder Bread any day.
I won’t be offended by the fact that others don’t like this bread, but if you have not tried it, don’t knock it! I am not buying it because of its name. Rather, I actually like it too! i love the fact that it’s made with “live” sprouted grains and flourless. How do they do that? What could be healthier? Of course, I eat a lot of “weird” food as far as others are concerned, while I just consider them REAL food.
Guys,
Take the bible story in the context of it’s time. Take the bread, in the context of OUR time. (that’s the part of the Bible I really love, the timeless part…)Hopefully we have become a tad more civilized but with that came more diseases that spring from an un-balanced over abundance and uh, we ARE still under siege. Corporate Food conglomerates have most people drooling for ho-hos and chocolate puff cereal for breakfast. GMO tainted grains (very un-kosher biblically speaking and one of the reasons for increases in allergies and mass species die-offs) feed the cattle we eat, the breads and bagels and so on…ANYTHING that offers a complete and wholesome, untainted protein is not only a good thingIMHO but it is getting more difficult to find. The soil has become so depleted of minerals that most people have to supplement, the water we drink needs to be filtered. I happen to be one of the people that thinks this is a very tasty bread but I will eat things that don’t poison me. Also, as one of the ever burgeoning pre-diabetes population, anything that works to stave off that enemy is definitely on MY side and I am grateful to G*d for the learning of it.
blessings bright!
Rebecca
They have cereal also, Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain cereal. I liked it for a while, but man did I ever get sick of it fast.
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
Its hilarious how you religious zealots try to ignore or rationalize the fact that a bread from the bible called for the ingredient of shit.
LOL, what a bunch of loons.
Note this day in history. Bill Maher and I actually agree on something.
it was cooked over shit, it wasn’t an ingredient…..
12 Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” 🙂
I tried to affirm him some, he hates us so…
but people seem to ignore that little fecal issue when they rave about this.
I am about to go buy some of this bread because I just started a no sugar no flour diet and I believe it is the only thing left bread-wise that I can eat. Hopefully it will at least prove serviceable.
As for Bill Maher, his problem is God gave him s for brains.
This is probably a thread that is done by now but I just stumbled on the conversation while looking for some nutritional information about Ezekiel Bread. I am a Christian, however, I didn’t buy the bread because of the name . . . In many different diets to help control sugar and gluten Ezekiel Bread is listed. It isn’t as soft and tasty as bread made with enriched flour but that is not the point. Both my parents died of cancer at a relatively young age. As I am getting older it is becoming more and more important to take the best care of myself that I can. Good grains and beans are important to a well balanced diet. Ezekiel bread fills that need. Toasted it tastes pretty good. We are fortunate to live in a time where we have lots of dietary information at our disposal to make good choices with what we eat. Ezekiel Bread is just one of many products that help in that area. Let’s face it . . . it is just really, really expensive to get sick anymore.
I’m a latecomer to this thread, looking for recipes to make my own Ezekiel Bread. I happen to like the stuff, and I am always leery when I hear about “Bible” diets. They are just more primitive, not so processed as everything is now. So that part is good. I am trying to eat more healthy things and I enjoy the chewiness of it, it makes me feel like I’m eating something. Got to get in a few lines in defense of a healthy product.
I was looking for a recipe for this bread, hoping that I might be able to make it myself and save money. While I am an avid Bible reader, I’m not consuming the bread to get closer to God, nor do I expect that eating it will make me a better person. Frankly, it just tastes good. Toast it, put a little butter and honey on it and, with a cup of tea, what a nice little treat. It’s also good for sandwiches. I literally just finished an egg salad sandwich…quite yummy. Just eat it! Don’t look for messages from above or expect a revelation of any kind.
I too have come late to this thread – I think it is funny how so many of you are missing the major issue. As someone who can not eat regular bread – I can now have a sandwich. And it’s taste is pleasant. You all are hung up on human dung, and have no comprehension of the very fact that it is a health issue solved by God. I am a Christian, but did not buy the bread because it had a biblical reference on it. Hey any satan worshipper can be making a profit off of God’s name and word, and I have never met the owners – so they may not have an ounce of God fearing blood in them. But as for me – it is a health issue. Be thankful that God has blessed you with health that doesn’t have limitations – but don’t abuse that health – because that too belongs to God.
Somewhere the true significance of Ezekiel’s obedience to G*d has been lost. He is an obedient servant of the Most High, called to do things that most of us would not have done. So, in that, G*d, who designed and knew the heart of Ezekiel anyway, chose the right man for the job. G*d tell us over and over through Scripture that the ways of G*d are foolishness to the wise and that the self-proclaimed wisdom of man is foolishness to G*d.
Israel and Judah had been living in disobedience to G*d. Ezekiel’s acts of obedience to things commanded by G*d, to which which the “wise and knowledgeable” diagnose as mental illness or anything other than G*d inspired, show their very rejection of the Word.
The bread was nutritious and life sustaining. It was not supposed to be a tasty gourmet meal. The very fact that it was cooked over human excrement is of great theological significance and well-considered for seige conditions. The scroll that tasted like honey signified that the very word of G*d, and obedience to Him, was as sweet as honey. People should read the word and “ingest” it into their very being. But, the people of Israel and Judah rejected the presence of G*d. So, instead, they were reaping the consequences of their rejection. G*d would no longer watch over them. They would be beseiged by their enemies. He would no longer bless them, but they would eat of the remnants of a beseiged city that would leave a foul taste in their mouths.
Ezekiel’s actions were designed to bring attention to himself. He was to act out the very events that would come upon Israel and Judah. Did the people understand? No. No more than people today understand. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t specifically intentioned nor does it mean that Ezekiel was crazy. It means that people of all eras lack understanding of the ways of G*d. G*d seeks a people after His own heart. He tells us in James that he who lacks wisdom need only ask for it and He will give it to him.
G*d told Ezekiel to bake the bread over human excrement. That was to bring home the point of a defiled people eating defiled food. He then changed His mind for Ezekiel to cook it over cow dung. But, did G*d truly change His mind? No. He was not going to sicken his servant. But, imagine a city under seige for two years. The sheep, goats, and cows would have been killed for food very early on. What excrement would have been left for the people to cook with?
Further in to Ezekiel, chapter 37, you will find that Ezekiel is brought to a valley filled with dried bones. The skeletons of the dead. These skeletons are prophesied over that in the future they will come to life. Does it mean that Ezekiel prophesied over the bones and they came to life right then and there? No. It is a prophesy fulfilled when the people of Israel return to G*d and new spiritual life is given to them. Some equate it to their return to Israel after WWII.
Stop looking at the bread in and of itself. The bread was used to stave off starvation. It was used at a time when Ezekiel was in deep mourning over the nations of Israel and Judah over their separation from G*d.
Perhaps, those of faith should look at it and use it when they are fasting over a critical issue in their lives or in the life of their community or nation and children.
Hmm – after reading all these posts, I think that most people do not understand that the bread itself and the cooking over human dung are separate issues in Ezekiel 4. I think His Orchid expresses that very well in his post and, in my reading of this chapter, this seems pretty clear.
As for the commercial Ezekiel bread, I like it and it is highly recommended by my nutritionist. The nutrition value of the bread is very high. The commercial variety does potentially depart from the Biblical recipe in that they use sprouted grains for the bread, which is actually another plus, nutritionally. Also, Ezekiel 4:9 does not specify the actual proportions of the various ingredients, so the commercial variety of the bread does not necessarily equate one to one with what Ezekiel was eating – we just do not know.
I also like the Ezekiel 4:9 cereal and find that it tastes very similar to Grape Nuts. I enjoy it with a little organic raw milk and sweeten it with a bit of agave syrup or sucanet and it makes for a very nourishing and filling breakfast.
While I do not buy the Ezekiel bread or cereal because I am a Christian, I do believe, in reading Ezekiel 4, that God provided a good source of nutrition that would see Ezekiel through some very hard times (an 18-month siege!). The reason for the siege itself and the cooking over human dung are related to the the disobedience of the Jew’s to God.
I am a Christian, and I am just wondering why the “s” word is being used on a faith based website? I know Bill obviously is not a Christian, but what about others? Just thinking that we should be representing Christ with a cleaner vocabulary.
And by the way I liked the bread, they don’t have it in the area that I now live in but in the past I enjoyed it very much.
In Christ,
T.
I eat Ezekiel bread because I have insulin resistance, and Ezekiel bread is low glycemic (37). It is recommended for diabetics. I don’t think it tastes bad. It doesn’t taste any worse than oatmeal or other whole grain products. It does not tatse sweet (starchy) like other breads because the grains are sprouted. It also contains complete proteins because of the mixture of legumes and grains. It would be a good food to eat over the course of a year in a famine situation.
I guess most of you were not back to nature/whole foods types back in the 60s and 70s. Have you ever eaten a bowl of boiled wheat berries or sprouted your own grains?
To someone who has developed a taste for natural foods, the typical American diet of fast food and processed foods can taste awful.
Lastly, I trust that the Ezekiel bread I purchased from the store was not cooked over any sort of dung.
A few things before I close the comments on this one.
1. The point was that people took this ‘recipe’ out of context as though it was what we should be eating. This was all there was left to eat because they were being sieged.
2. The s-word was used to refer to excrement. There is no biblically proper or approved list of words to refer to it. The Scriptures prohibit abusive language. It is not as concerned about ‘profanity’ as we can often are. To get hung up on what you call fecal matter is, well, straining a gnat and swallowing a camel (legalism or self-righteousness).
If you enjoy the bread… great for you. I don’t.
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