Ezekiel 11:3

3 they say, "The time is not near to build houses; this city is the pot, and we are the meat.'

Ezekiel 11:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 11:3

Which say [it is] not near, let us build houses
Meaning that the destruction of the city was not near, as the prophet had foretold, ( Ezekiel 7:3 Ezekiel 7:6 Ezekiel 7:7 Ezekiel 7:10 Ezekiel 7:12 ) ; and therefore encourage the people to build houses, and rest themselves secure, as being safe from all danger, and having nothing to fear from the Chaldean army; and so putting away the evil day far from them, which was just at hand: though the words may be rendered, "it is not [proper] to build houses near" {e}; near the city of Jerusalem, in the suburbs of it, since they would be liable to be destroyed by the enemy; but this would not be condemned as wicked counsel, but must be judged very prudent and advisable: and the same may be objected to another rendering of the word, which might be offered, "not in the midst to build houses"; or it is not proper to build houses in the midst of the city, in order to receive the multitude that flock out of the country, through fear of the enemy, to Jerusalem for safety; since by this means, as the number of the inhabitants would be increased, so provisions in time would become scarce, and a famine must ensue, which would oblige to deliver up the city into the hands of the besiegers; wherefore the first sense seems best. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render them, "are not the houses lately built?" and so not easily demolished, and are like to continue long, and we in them; this [city is] the cauldron, and we [be] the flesh;
referring to, and laughing at, what one of the prophets, namely Jeremiah, had said of them, comparing them to a boiling pot, ( Jeremiah 1:13 ) ; and it is as if they should say, be it so, that this city is as a cauldron or boiling pot, then we are the flesh in it; and as flesh is not taken out of a pot until it is boiled, no more shall we be removed from hence till we die; we shall live and die in this city; and as it is difficult and dangerous to take hot boiling meat out of a cauldron, so it, is unlikely we should be taken out of this city, and carried captive; what a cauldron or brasen pot is to the flesh, it holds and keeps it from falling into the fire; that the walls of Jerusalem are to us, our safety and preservation; nor need we fear captivity.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Mytb twnb bwrqb al) "non in propinque aedificandae domus", Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius, Polanus; "non in propinquo aedificare domos", Montanus, Piscator, Starckius.

Ezekiel 11:3 In-Context

1 The spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. There, at the entrance of the gateway, were twenty-five men; among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur, and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.
2 He said to me, "Mortal, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city;
3 they say, "The time is not near to build houses; this city is the pot, and we are the meat.'
4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O mortal."
5 Then the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, "Say, Thus says the Lord: This is what you think, O house of Israel; I know the things that come into your mind.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.