What is the meaning of Ezekiel 11:3? They are saying • “They” are the twenty-five leaders Ezekiel sees “at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD’s house” (Ezekiel 11:1), princes who “devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city” (Ezekiel 11:2). • Their words reveal a mind-set of self-confidence and rebellion, much like the false prophets who kept assuring Judah, “You will have peace” (Jeremiah 23:16-17). • Instead of heeding earlier warnings—Isaiah 30:10 describes people who tell seers, “See no more visions!”—these leaders keep the nation comfortable in sin. Is not the time near to build houses? • The phrase sounds optimistic, as though Jerusalem’s siege were ending and it was finally safe to settle down. Yet Jeremiah, writing from Jerusalem, had already told the exiles in Babylon, “Build houses and settle down” there, not in Judah (Jeremiah 29:4-5). • By claiming the right time is “near,” the leaders contradict Jeremiah’s prophecy of a seventy-year captivity (Jeremiah 29:10) and echo the short-lived lies of Hananiah, who promised restoration within two years (Jeremiah 28:2-4). • Their timing also mocks God’s warnings, resembling later scoffers who ask, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:4). The city is the cooking pot, and we are the meat • A cooking pot keeps meat inside; the leaders assume Jerusalem’s walls will keep them safe while enemies stay outside. In their proverb, the “meat” is prized fare, suggesting they view themselves as the protected, choice people of the city. • God flips the image: “Set on the pot… Bring in the pieces of meat… and pile wood beneath it” (Ezekiel 24:3-11). The pot becomes an instrument of judgment, not safety. The very walls they trust will turn into a cauldron for divine wrath. • Micah had condemned rulers who “tear the skin from My people” and “break their bones… like meat in a pot” (Micah 3:2-3). Ezekiel’s vision shows that same corruption now meeting its reckoning. • Far from enjoying privilege, these leaders will be “brought out of the city” and fall by the sword (Ezekiel 11:7-10), proving that the only true refuge is obedience, not geography or position (Psalm 46:1). summary Ezekiel 11:3 records arrogant leaders persuading Jerusalem to ignore God’s prophets. Their chatty slogan—“Time to build! We’re safe inside our pot!”—reveals willful blindness. God exposes the lie: the “pot” will boil, and the so-called “choice meat” will face judgment. The passage reminds us that genuine security rests in trusting the Lord and submitting to His Word, never in self-made assurances or outward fortresses. |
    |