Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 4:13

"And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them." — Ezekiel 4:13 (ASV)

Eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles. —The Mosaic law purposely so restricted the people with detailed precepts regarding their food and its preparation, that it was impossible for them to share the food of the Gentiles without contracting ceremonial defilement; and the stated purpose of this symbolism is to teach that the Israelites would thus be forced to contract defilement.

Their sins had brought them to that point, which is so often the result of continued and hardened sin, that it would be impossible for them to avoid further transgression. Ezekiel shows by his reply, in Ezekiel 4:14, that like Saint Peter, in Acts 10:14, he had always been a scrupulous observer of the law. To Saint Peter, however, it was revealed that under the Christian dispensation this ceremonial law was now abolished, while to Ezekiel it still remained in full force.