Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 11:3
Which say, [It is] not near; let us build houses: this [city is] the caldron, and we [be] the flesh.
3. It is not near; let us build ] Rather as R.V. The time to build houses is not near, lit. the building of houses is not near. The phrase “to build houses” is to be taken as in ch. Eze 28:26, “And they shall dwell with confidence therein, and shall build houses and plant vineyards and shall dwell with confidence.” To build houses is a sign and a consequence of a time of peace and security (Isa 65:21; Jer 29:5; Jer 29:28). These agitators desire to turn men’s minds away from peaceful occupations, and make them contemplate other measures, assuring them that when war comes the strong city will be their salvation it is the pot which will protect the flesh from the fire around it. Others, e.g. Ew., take the phrase interrogatively: Is not the building of houses near? This, however, hardly corresponds to the situation, which is not one of war which it is hoped will speedily pass over, but one of contemplated rebellion. LXX. renders: Have not the houses been recently built? it is the pot &c.; so Corn. This gives a closer connexion to the two halves of the verse, but “houses” could hardly have the sense of fortifications, nor does the phrase naturally express the meaning that the damage done to the city when last captured (under Jehoiachin) had been fully repaired.
this city is the caldron ] lit. it is the caldron or pot. The phrase implies two things, the danger of fire around, and that the strong city will prove a protection to those within it. These revolutionary spirits are aware of the risks they run, but with a certain grimness of humour they make light of them. The figure here is somewhat different from that of the boiling pot for war common in the Arabic poets.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
It is not near – In contradiction to Eze 7:2.
Let us build houses – To build houses implies a sense of security. Jeremiah bade the exiles build houses in a foreign land because they would not soon quit it Jer 29:5; Jer 35:7. These false counselors promised to their countrymen a sure and permanent abode in the city which God had doomed to destruction. No need, they said, to go far for safety; you are perfectly safe at home. The Hebrew, however, is, difficult: literally it means, It is not near to build houses, which may be explained as spoken in mockery of such counsel as that of Jeremiah: matters have not gone so far as to necessitate house-building in a foreign land. The same idea is expressed by the image of the caldron: whatever devastation may rage around the city, we are safe within its walls, as flesh within a caldron is unburned by the surrounding fire (compare Eze 24:6).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. It is not near] That is, the threatened invasion.
This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.] See the vision of the seething pot, Jer 1:13. These infidels seem to say: “We will run all risks, we will abide in the city. Though it be the caldron, and we the flesh, yet we will share its fate: if it perish, we will perish with it.” Or they may allude to the above prediction of Jeremiah, in order to ridicule it: “We were to have been boiled long ago: but the fulfilment of that prediction is not near yet.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What counsel was by these men given appears by their words.
It is not near; either the threatened danger and ruin by the Chaldeans; or else, build, but not in the suburbs, not near, but in the city, that your houses may not shelter the enemy.
This city is the caldron: this is an impious scoff, yet mixed with some fear, of the prophets, Jer 1:13; Eze 24:6. They deride the prophets, yet secretly dread the thing. Jerusalem is the pot, we the flesh that are to be boiled therein; but this will take up some time however, we were better be so destroyed than to fall by the hands of the Chaldeans, who perhaps may roast what is not boiled here.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. It is not nearnamely, thedestruction of the city; therefore “let us build houses,”as if there was no fear. But the Hebrew opposes EnglishVersion, which would require the infinitive absolute. Rather,”Not at hand is the building of houses.” They sneer atJeremiah’s letter to the captives, among whom Ezekiel lived (Jer29:5). “Build ye houses, and dwell in them,”that is, do not fancy, as many persuade you, that your sojourn inBabylon is to be short; it will be for seventy years (Jer 25:11;Jer 25:12; Jer 29:10);therefore build houses and settle quietly there. The scorners inJerusalem reply, Those far off in exile may build if they please, butit is too remote a concern for us to trouble ourselves about[FAIRBAIRN], (CompareEze 12:22; Eze 12:27;2Pe 3:4).
this city . . . caldron . . .we . . . fleshsneering at Jer1:13, when he compared the city to a caldron with its mouthtowards the north. “Let Jerusalem be so if you will, and we theflesh, exposed to the raging foe from the north, still itsfortifications will secure us from the flame of war outside; the citymust stand for our sakes, just as the pot exists for the safety ofthe flesh in it.” In opposition to this God says (Eze11:11), “This city shall not be your caldron, to defend youin it from the foe outside: nay, ye shall be driven outof your imaginary sanctuary and slain in the border of the land.“”But,” says God, in Eze11:7, “your slain are the flesh, and this city the caldron;but (not as you fancy, shall ye be kept safe inside) I willbring you forth out of the midst of it“; and again, inEze 24:3, “Though not acaldron in your sense, Jerusalem shall be so in the sense ofits being exposed to a consuming foe, and you yourselves in it andwith it.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Eze 7:3; 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, Jer 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.
e “non in propinque aedificandae domus”, Junius Tremellius, Cocceius, Polanus “non in propinquo aedificare domos”, Montanus, Piscator, Starckius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here the Prophet explains what might be obscure through their perverseness. He brings forward, therefore, what the impious thought could be covered by many fallacies. For we know that hypocrites endeavor to fix their eyes on God, and when they scatter their own clouds before themselves, they think that he is blinded. For this reason Isaiah says, that God also is wise, (Isa 31:2,) and derides their cunning, since they think that they blind God’s eyes whilst they conceal their sins with various coverings. Since, therefore, the obstinacy of these men was so great., the Prophet here strips off their mask; for they could be turned aside by perverse counsels to deny that they deserved anything of the kind. But the Prophet here cuts away their pretenses, because, in truth, their impiety was more than sufficiently evident, since they boast that the time is not yet at hand, and, therefore, that they might build houses at Jerusalem as in a time of ease and peace. As we saw in Jeremiah, the time of the last destruction was approaching; everything remaining in the city had now been destined to final ruin: and for this reason Jeremiah advised houses to be built in Chaldea and in foreign lands, since the captives must spend a long period there, even seventy years. (Jer 29:5.) Since then the predicted time was now drawing on, it became extreme folly in the people to oppose themselves, and to treat God’s threats as a laughing-stock, and to boast that it was a time for building. Now, therefore, we see what the Prophet blames and condemns in the five and twenty men who were princes of the people, namely, that they hardened the people in obstinate wickedness, and encouraged torpor, so that the Prophet’s threats were unheeded. Since, therefore, they so stupified the people by their enticements, and took away all sense of repentance, they also set aside all fear of God’s wrath which had been denounced against them. The Prophet condemns this depravity in their counsels.
But, in the second clause, this contempt appears more detestable when they say, that Jerusalem is the caldron, and they are the flesh I do not doubt their allusion to Jeremiah; for in the first chapter the pot was shown, but the fire was from the north, (Jer 1:13😉 so then the Spirit wished to teach us, that the Chaldeans would come like a fire to consume Jerusalem, as if a pot is placed on a large and constant fire, even if it be full of water and flesh, yet its contents are consumed, and the juice of the flesh is dried up by too long cooking. God had demonstrated this by his servant Jeremiah: here the Jews deride and factiously elude what ought to strike them with no light fear, unless they had been too slothful: behold, say they, we are the flesh and Jerusalem is the caldron: So they seem to rate the Prophet Jeremiah, as if he were inconsistent, — “What? do you threaten us with captivity? and meanwhile you say that this city will be the pot and the Chaldeans the fire. If God wishes to consume us, therefore let us remain within: thus we may build houses.” Now we understand how they sought some appearance of inconsistency in the words of the Prophet: as reprobate and profane men always take up arguments by which they may diminish and extenuate all faith in heavenly doctrine, nay, even reduce it to nothing if they could. The Prophet, therefore, provides a remedy for this evil, as we have seen. But before he proceeds to it, he repeats their impious saying, that Jerusalem is a caldron, and the people flesh They turned what had been said to a meaning directly contrary, for the Prophet said that they should burn since the Chaldeans would be like fire’ but they said — well, we shall be scorched, but that will be done lightly, so that we shall remain safe to a good old age. Hence we understand how diabolical was their audacity, who were so blinded by the just judgments of God, that they did not scruple petulantly to blame even God himself, and to make a laughingstock of the authority of his teaching. Thus we see in another way how faithfully Ezekiel had discharged his duty: he had been created a Prophet: he had not to discharge his office by himself, but was an assistant to Jeremiah. And we cannot otherwise discharge our duty to God and his Church unless we mutually extend our hands to each other, when ministers are mutually united and one studies to assist the other. Ezekiel now signifies this when he professes himself the ally and assistant of Jeremiah.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) It is not near; let us build houses. -Neither the text nor the marginal reading of the Authorised Version quite accurately represent the original. The expression is literally not near to build houses; and it is to be explained by the prophecy and narrative of Jeremiah 29. After the 10,000 (among whom was Ezekiel) had been carried captiveand apparently shortly afterJeremiah had sent word to the captives to build houses and make themselves comfortable. because the captivity would be long (Eze. 11:5-10). This greatly offended the captives; and Shemaiah, a false prophet among them, had consequently sent letters to Jerusalem asking that Jeremiah might be punished for thus prophesying (Eze. 11:24-25). The princes of the people now appear in Ezekiels vision as taking up this prophecy of Jeremiahs and contradicting it: this need of building houses for a long captivity is not near! In Eze. 7:2-3; Eze. 7:12; Eze. 12:23, Ezekiel expressly declares that it is very near. The princes further confirmed the people in their fancied security by comparing the city to a caldron, the strong walls of which should protect the flesh within it, i.e., the people, from the fire of all hostile attack. In the prophecy of Eze. 24:6 this figure is taken up, and a very different application given to it; it is also turned against them immediately in Eze. 11:7. In consequence of this attitude and these sayings of the princes, the prophecy of Eze. 11:5-12 is now directed against them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. It is not near; let us build houses Rather, the time to build houses is not near. The meaning is obscure, but seems to be this: It is no time now for peaceful occupations (Eze 28:26; Isa 65:21; Jer 29:5; Jer 29:28). Jeremiah had called Jerusalem a seething “pot” the same word as caldron in Hebrew (Jer 1:13) and so it might become if they did not arouse from their lethargy. But even the walls of an iron pot protect the flesh within it, and it was the part of patriots to strengthen their defenses rather than to give up to despair or leap into the Babylonian fires; therefore they will stay behind the walls, and, if they must die, they will die there. This was the answer of the war party to the prophets who counseled submission to Babylon, and it struck a popular chord.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 11:3. This city is the caldron When they say, that doth not yet hang over, or threaten us, that our houses should be the caldron, and we the flesh. Jeremiah, as well as Ezekiel himself, foretold the destruction of Jerusalem under the metaphor of a seething-pot. See chap. 24: and Jer 1:13.; an idea which these infidels seem here to ridicule.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 11:3 Which say, [It is] not near; let us build houses: this [city is] the caldron, and we [be] the flesh.
Ver. 3. Which say, It is not near, ] sc., The evil day is not. The vision that he seeth is for many days to come; and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. Eze 12:22 ; Eze 12:27 See Amo 6:3 Isa 29:1 2Pe 3:4 . And this was likely the evil counsel they gave the king and people, lulling them asleep in the cradle of carnal security.
Let us build houses.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
this city = it (or she), as in verses: Eze 11:7, Eze 11:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 11:3-4
Eze 11:3-4
“They say, the time is not near to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy O son of man.”
The understanding of this is difficult. The best versions of the Bible render the verse differently. They say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh (KJV).
Is not the time near to build houses? this city is the caldron and we are the flesh (ASV margin).
We will soon be building houses again. The city is like a cooking pot, and we are like the meat in it, but at least it protects us from the fire (the Good News Bible).
Will it not soon be time to build houses? The city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat (NIV).
Saying, Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron, and we the flesh (Douay Version).
Houses have been recently rebuilding; all is well! The city is a cauldron, and we are the flesh, safe inside in it. (Moffatt’s Translation).
These versions and translations are enough to show how general is the uncertainty about what is actually said here. It will be noticed that some have taken great liberties with the text, even introducing thoughts in no way connected with it.
Beasley-Murray accepted the ASV margin, and accepted the thought as opposed to the prophetic warnings and a support for Jerusalem’s false sense of security. Bruce also preferred the ASV marginal rendition, stating that the false leaders here claimed security, normality, and their expectation of a long residency in Jerusalem.
The learned opinions of scholars like Bruce and Beasley-Murray are impressive, but their weakness rests in the fact that the Hebrew text simply does not fit such interpretations; and therefore we favor the view of Keil.
Keil took the view that the `house-building’ referred to here is a reference to Jeremiah’s instructions (Jer 29:5), making the words here a brazen attempt to contradict Jeremiah’s instructions to the exiles. This would give a meaning like this: “House-building in exile is a long way off. It will not come to this; Jerusalem will not fall into the hands of the king of Babylon.”
Whatever the false leaders were saying in Jerusalem, we are certain that their policies, their advice to the people and their false sense of security were all extremely wicked.
The meaning of their proverb about the caldron and the flesh in it seems to be clear enough. They fancied themselves to be the meat, preserved and safe in the pot, at the same time falsely imputing to the exiles the status of the excess liquor already poured out of the caldron.
The remaining Jews in Jerusalem at that time, following their wicked leaders looked upon themselves as “the true and only Israel.” They alone were in God’s land; all others, including the exiles, were out of it for ever. They no longer counted. The Jerusalemites alone had access to the Temple and its sacred services. They detested and despised the exiles, supposing that God no longer cared for them, and they thought that they alone were the heirs of the promises to the patriarchs. It was the horrible unjustness and arrogance of such views that had reached the exiles; and it was that very problem that had brought the elders to the house of Ezekiel at the beginning of this section in chapter 8.
The very next few verses here will present the situation as it really was, namely, that the exiles were the “true Israel,” and that the Jerusalemites were doomed to utter destruction, except for a few who would be added to the remnant in Babylon.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
It is not: etc. or, It is not for us to build houses near, Eze 7:7, Eze 12:22, Eze 12:27, Isa 5:19, Jer 1:11, Jer 1:12, Amo 6:5, 2Pe 3:4
this city: Eze 11:7-11, Eze 24:3-14, Jer 1:13
Reciprocal: Deu 8:12 – and hast built Eze 11:11 – General Eze 21:23 – as a Mic 3:3 – and chop
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 11:3. The main idea these evil men advocated was one of opposition to the warnings of the Lord. They were making light of the predictions that Jerusalem was to be overthrown, and expressed themselves by the figurative language of the last clause of the verse. It means as if they had said, ‘There is nothing in the threatening the prophet has given us. This city is all the caldron we will need to fear.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
11:3 Who say, {a} [It is] not near; let us build houses: this [city is] the {b} caldron, and we [are] the flesh.
(a) Thus the wicked derided the prophets as though they preached only errors, and therefore gave themselves still to their pleasures.
(b) We will not be pulled out of Jerusalem, till the hour of our death comes, as the flesh is not taken out of the caldron until it is boiled.