In Ezekiel 24:17, the phrase is:
“…and eat not the bread of men.”
In context, God had just told Ezekiel that his wife, “the desire of thine eyes,” would die. But Ezekiel was commanded not to mourn in the normal public Jewish way.
“The bread of men” means the customary food brought by other people to mourners after a death.
In ancient Jewish mourning customs, neighbors, family, or friends would bring food to the grieving household because the mourner was considered too sorrowful or ritually occupied to prepare his own meal. So “bread of men” means something like the mourner’s meal provided by others.
God told Ezekiel not to eat it because Ezekiel’s grief was to become a sign to the people. When Jerusalem and the temple fell, the Jews would be so stunned and overwhelmed that they would not mourn in the ordinary way either.
So the command means:
Do not observe the usual mourning customs, including accepting and eating the funeral/mourning meal brought by others.
It does not mean Ezekiel was forbidden to eat all food. It means he was not to take part in the normal public rituals of mourning.
The lesson is that Jerusalem’s fall would be so devastating that ordinary grief customs would seem inadequate. God was using Ezekiel’s personal sorrow as a living picture of the coming national sorrow.
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