EATING
The Jews would have considered themselves polluted by eating with people of another religion, or with any who were ceremonially unclean or disreputable-as with Samaritans, John 4:9, publicans, Matthew 9:11, or Gentiles, Acts 10:28 Galatians 2:12. Eating together was an established token of mutual confidence and friendship, a pledge of friendly relations between families, which their children were expected to perpetuate. The rites of hospitality were held sacred; and to this day, among the Arabs, a fugitive is safe for the time, if he gains the shelter of even an enemy’s tent. The abuse of hospitality was a great crime, Psalms 41:9.
To "eat" a book, is to make its precepts, promises, and spirit one’s own, Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 3:1; John 4:14; Revelation 10:9. So to eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood, is to receive him as a Savior, and by a living faith to be imbued with his truth, his Spirit, and his heavenly life, John 1:6-58.