John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 11:3

"that say, [The time] is not near to build houses: this [city] is the caldron, and we are the flesh." — Ezekiel 11:3 (ASV)

Here the Prophet explains what might be obscure through their perversity. He brings forward, therefore, what the ungodly thought could be covered by many deceptions. For we know that hypocrites strive 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 (Isaiah 31:2), and mocks their cunning, since they think that they blind God’s eyes while 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 ungodliness was abundantly clear, since they boasted that the time was not yet near 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 for final ruin. For this reason, Jeremiah advised houses to be built in Chaldea and in foreign lands, since the captives would have to spend a long period there, even seventy years (Jeremiah 29:5). Since then the predicted time was now drawing near, it became extreme folly for the people to resist, to treat God’s threats as a laughingstock, and to boast that it was a time for building.

Now, therefore, we see what the Prophet blames and condemns in the twenty-five men who were leaders of the people: namely, that they hardened the people in obstinate wickedness and encouraged apathy, so that the Prophet’s threats were ignored. Since, therefore, they so stupefied the people by their enticements and removed all sense of repentance, they also set aside all fear of God’s wrath which had been proclaimed against them. The Prophet condemns this depravity in their counsels.

But, in the second statement, this contempt appears more detestable when they say that Jerusalem is the cauldron, 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 (Jeremiah 1:13). So then the Spirit wished to teach us that the Chaldeans would come like a fire to consume Jerusalem, as when a pot is placed on a large and constant fire; even if it is full of water and flesh, yet its contents are consumed, and the juice of the flesh is dried up by too much cooking.

God had demonstrated this by His servant Jeremiah. Here the Jews mock and contentiously evade what should have struck them with great fear, unless they had been too complacent: Behold, they say, we are the flesh and Jerusalem is the cauldron: So they seem to criticize 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, then let us remain within; in this way we can build houses.”

Now we understand how they sought some semblance of inconsistency in the words of the Prophet: as depraved and ungodly men always seize upon arguments by which they may diminish and undermine all faith in heavenly doctrine, indeed, 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 ungodly saying that Jerusalem is a cauldron, and the people flesh. They twisted what had been said to a directly contrary meaning, for the Prophet said that they should burn since the Chaldeans would be like fire; but they said— “Well, we will be scorched, but that will happen lightly, so that we will remain safe to a good old age.”

Hence we understand how diabolical their audacity was, as they were so blinded by the just judgments of God that they did not hesitate to insolently 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 fulfilled his duty: he had been made a Prophet. He did not have to fulfill his office by himself, but was an assistant to Jeremiah. And we cannot otherwise fulfill our duty to God and His Church unless we mutually extend our hands to each other, when ministers are mutually united and each one strives to assist the other. Ezekiel now shows this when he professes himself the ally and assistant of Jeremiah.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we know from Your ancient people how great our hardness is (unless we are inclined by Your Holy Spirit, indeed, totally renewed into obedience to Your doctrine): that as often as we hear Your threatening, we may be truly frightened, and that we may desire to return to true and perfect obedience, not by momentary but by permanent repentance, until at last we are gathered into that happy rest, which has been obtained for us through the blood of Your only-begotten Son. Amen.