{"id":73142,"date":"2020-04-08T16:53:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T13:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73142"},"modified":"2020-04-09T22:24:13","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T19:24:13","slug":"eating-gods-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/eating-gods-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating God\u2019s Words"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"73142","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":62571,"related_cahpter":"455","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Did he mean that literally?\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"

Prior to God informing Ezekiel how he will encounter resistance from the Jewish people regarding his messages to comply with Divine Directives, and that God will enable him to speak convincingly and articulately whenever it is determined that he should, a most arresting vision is described\u00a0 by the prophet: \u201cHe said to me, \u201cMortal, eat what is offered you; eat this scroll, and go speak to the House of Israel.\u201d So I opened my mouth, and He gave me this scroll to eat, as He said to me, \u201cMortal, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I give you.\u201d I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey to me\u201d (1-3).<\/span><\/p>\n

Whereas some classical commentaries treat this vision as something to be interpreted figuratively: \u201c\u2026He said to him that he should \u201ceat\u201d the Megilla until it is \u201cdigested\u201d and inscribed on the Tablet of his heart, as is written: (Tehillim 40:9) \u201cI delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is in my inmost parts\u201d (Malbim). Or Radak: \u201cThis is the way of the parable that he (<\/span>Ezekiel<\/span><\/i>) should not \u201cvomit out\u201d (<\/span>his message<\/span><\/i>) from his mouth, but rather let his stomach first \u201cdigest…\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems to me that this directive could also be meant to be taken quite literally, i.e., Ezekiel is being told by God to chew, swallow, and become fortified by physically internalizing the pages of this \u201cScroll.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Such an interpretation would constitute a literal fulfillment regarding the importance of honoring a Torah scholar due to what he has existentially made of himself: \u201cRava said: How foolish are the rest of the people who stand before a Torah scroll that passes before them, and yet they do not stand before a great man, when a sage passes before them\u201d (<\/span>i.e., the sage is comparable to a living Sefer Tora<\/span><\/i> – Makkot 22b).<\/span><\/p>\n

An idiomatic expression that one often hears is: \u201cYou are what you eat.\u201d Medievalists explained some laws of kashrut in terms of avoiding consuming carnivores because one should not become blood-thirsty like them. For instance, Abravanel: \u201cEating meat generates within the eater evil characteristics, i.e., extreme cruelty and \u2026 anger, to the point that cattle and sheep, and other forms of life that eat grasses, whether moist or dry, like straw, are many (<\/span>and permitted<\/span><\/i>) \u2026 The same is true regarding fowl, i.e., birds, turtle doves, pigeons, chickens, because they nourish themselves from grasses and grain, (<\/span>and<\/span><\/i>) they do not kill or tear apart other animals. However, animals that do kill others, and birds that crush (<\/span>with their talons<\/span><\/i>) gain nutrition from meat, and therefore they have within them anger \u2026 and \u2026 cruelty\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Consuming God\u2019s Scroll should then have the opposite effect, turning the \u201ceater\u201d into someone with the most desirable attributes and characteristics.<\/span><\/p>\n

image:\u00a0Illuminated manuscript, English, c.1146.-The letter “E” with a Biblical scene: “Ezekiel eats the scroll” (Ezekiel 3, 1-4), From the Lambeth Bible, Ms.3, fol.258 v. 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