Jeremiah 15:16

Cyril97

Hi Guys,
Happy Start of the Great Lent!!!
I came across this verse:

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name, LORD God Almighty
    -NKJV Jeremiah 15:16

First of all, I would like to ask: was the words fasting because this verse is coming
up a lot with the begining of the fast.
Second of all, what is this story and what does it mean?
I think I read or heard a story about a guy who received a commandement or something
Holy from God so he ate it. I think he said that it tasted like locust and honey but maybe I am mixing
that last part up with another story.
Anyways, what's the deal with eating God's words? Is this real or symbolic?
God bless and Pray for me,
Cyril

joeg

[quote author=Cyril97 link=topic=10841.msg131698#msg131698 date=1298833907]
Hi Guys,
Happy Start of the Great Lent!!!
I came across this verse:

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name, LORD God Almighty
     -NKJV Jeremiah 15:16

First of all, I would like to ask: was the words fasting because this verse is coming
up a lot with the begining of the fast.

I don't think it refers to physically eating "words" up. It means to consume them, to take them inside you i.e. to keep them within your heart, to remember them.

Second of all, what is this story and what does it mean?
I think I read or heard a story about a guy who received a commandement or something
Holy from God so he ate it. I think he said that it tasted like locust and honey but maybe I am mixing
that last part up with another story.
Anyways, what's the deal with eating God's words? Is this real or symbolic?
God bless and Pray for me,
Cyril

The story you may perhaps be getting confused with is during the Revelation seen by St. John the Beloved on the Island of Patmos:

Revelation 10:8-11

8Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.”
9 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.”
And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.
11 And he[d] said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

The scroll here is symbolic, as are many of the events and happenings of this book. I would advise reading a commentary from one of the Fathers on the Book of Revelation in order to gain understanding.

The locust thing is a mix-up. St. John the Baptist came eating locusts and wild honey:

Matthew 3:4

3 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Mark 1:6

Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

anba bola

Ezekiel was also commanded to eat God's word

Ezekiel 3:1-3
Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
3 And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.

Unless I'm missing something this doesn't mean to literally take pages from the Bible and start eating them ;)! I actually found this by Saint John Chrysostom which quotes the verse:

But let us look over what has been said from the beginning. (Recapitulation.) “And when the day of Pentecost,” etc. “It filled,” he says, “the house.” That wind πνοὴ was a very pool of water. This betokened the copiousness, as the fire did the vehemence. This nowhere happened in the case of the Prophets: for to uninebriated souls such accesses are not attended with much disturbance; but “when they have well drunken,” then indeed it is as here, but with the Prophets it is otherwise. 

So from reading this, it appears that St. John Chrysostom believes Ezekiel to have received the Holy Spirit in that way. This doesn't mean all other interpretations are wrong though! In fact the interpretation of us symbolically eating the word of God (ie. Bible) is another perfectly good interpretation.

John_S2000

We eat food for the body. There is food for thought.
There is also spiritual food, that is the word of God.

GBU

George_Mina_Awad

Christ is the incarnate Word of God. When we take communion we are eating His word. I actually love how this appears in the Old Testament.