Last week I met with a group of men for our weekly Bible Study. We were examining God’s instruction to Ezekiel that he should use human poo to make fuel. The actual instruction read, “Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel” (Ezekiel 4:12). Ezekiel did not like the idea and objected. The Lord relented saying, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement” (Ezekiel 4:15).
Following the study, I began to research the idea of converting poo to fuel. Little did I know that I was getting myself into fecal sludge energy recovery – a clean energy industry. Scientific studies confirm that human feces contain comparable levels of carbon to replace charcoal and firewood, and subsequently the excessive practice of deforestation.
According to a 2017 study by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 2.4 billion people in the world rely on burning wood for cooking. This unsustainable harvesting and charcoal production contributes to forest degradation, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. In one East African country, some 90% of the people use firewood for food daily. One can just imagine the huge deforestation problems that result from this practice.
Sanivation (https://sanivation.com/approach), a Kenyan company, partners with local governments to help meet the growing waste processing need from septic tanks and pit latrines. Using sludge treatment plants, Sanivation transforms fecal sludge into biomass fuels. The company collects human waste from special toilets and turns it into sustainable fuel. This move improves sanitation and reduces the environmental impact of burning wood.
Obviously, the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel would not have known about biomass fuels. His resistance to use human excrement was probably based on his priestly understanding of Deuteronomy 23:14 “…so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.” Like other priests, Ezekiel very likely believed that decency in hygiene is required all the time, certainly during times of prayer and study, and even in wartime.
Honestly though, why would God ask Ezekiel to use dung for fuel? It seems that baking the bread over dung was symbolic of defilement being baked in a manner that would repulse the Israelites upon sight of it, much as God was repulsed by their defilement.
God’s instruction to his prophet is one of five acts in the book of Ezekiel that are symbolic of the destruction of Jerusalem. The context of Ezekiel 4:9-17 is indicative of the hard times Jerusalem would face. The prophet is illustrating to the Jews, that because of the Babylonian siege of the city of Jerusalem, energy supplies would be scarce. The only thing that would be available for fuel would be human excrement. Although not as effective, Ezekiel was allowed to use cow dung to illustrate his point.
But couldn’t the point be made with less offensive materials? In my quest to get an answer, the Lord directed me to Isaiah 55:8 (For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher that your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts).
