‘And he said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who scheme iniquity and who give wicked counsel to this city. Who say, ‘the time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron and we are the flesh'.” '
These men met together as counsellors to advise the city. But in Yahweh's eyes what they schemed was iniquitous and wicked, and their counsel was evil. Their counsel was probably similar to that proscribed in Micah 2:1-2, resulting from the fact that ‘they covet fields and seize them, and houses and take them away. And they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage' (see Ezekiel 11:12). Compare also Jeremiah 22:13, ‘who uses his neighbour's service without wages and does not give him his hire'. The leading men were using their position to enrich themselves.
Their particular advice is stated as, ‘the time is not near to build houses'. They may have been arguing against building houses because of their own mercenary interest. Perhaps they wanted to keep the number of houses low to increase rents, or to keep the land free where houses had been destroyed in the previous invasion, so that they could buy it cheaply. They may even have cited the example of the Rechabites as an example to follow (Jeremiah 35:7), but with evil motive.
Alternately that advice possibly meant that this was no time to build houses because they should be building fortifications ready for rebellion against Nebuchanezzar, probably with the help of Egypt. They would hardly go it alone and the ‘Lachish letters', ostraca discovered on the site of Lachish, confirm military contact with Egypt. So they were possibly advocating rebellion and resistance. This would suggest that they were not only greedy for other people's property but also for status, advancement and power. (The false prophets were at this time predicting the fall of Nebuchadnezzar and freedom from his yoke - Jeremiah 28:1-4 - which in itself would be a spur to rebellion).
This interpretation fits well with the illustration, ‘this city is the cauldron and we are the flesh'. Here they were likening Jerusalem to a protective cauldron which kept them (the flesh) out of the fire (of judgment) while they were being made into a delicious meal, something delightful and desirable. Thus they were arguing that its walls would protect them from Nebuchadnezzar, as the sides of the cauldron protected the flesh inside.
So they oozed sinful self confidence, while they were disobedient to the commands of Yahweh through His prophets (Ezekiel 11:12; Micah 2:1-2; Jeremiah 21:8-10). They were being presumptious and relying, in spite of their own sinfulness and idolatry, on the well established idea that Yahweh would not allow the city and temple to be destroyed. If they were also relying on Egypt it compounded their sin. But there was no way in which it was through genuine trust in Yahweh.
Indeed they may well have claimed that Yahweh had removed the old unbelieving leadership in judgment so as to make room for them. ‘We are the flesh', may be intended to imply that those previous leaders were rejected offal, as they are seen as suggesting later in Ezekiel 11:15. (Those who see themselves as ‘chosen' can often behave and think foolishly). But Yahweh had warned them through Jeremiah that they could not rely on belief in the inviolability of Jerusalem. That superstitious belief would cause Israel great damage now as it would on a number of occasions. But unlike Ezekiel they did not realise that Yahweh had for the time finished with both, for they did not believe the words of His prophets. Had they repented it might have been different, but Yahweh knew that they were too hardened to repent (compare Jeremiah 42-43).
However, the Hebrew says literally ‘who say, ‘not at hand to build houses', and AV, for example, translates, ‘it is not near, let us build houses', meaning that the coming judgment was far off so that they could settle down in peace and build houses to live in with the future secure (compare Ezekiel 28:26). But the infinitive cannot easily be so interpreted as an exhortation, which is against this translation.
But another possibility in line with this is to see the Hebrew as a question, ‘is not the time at hand to build houses?' which contains the same idea. LXX seemingly read it in a similar way and translated ‘ who say, Have not the houses been newly built? This is the cauldron, and we are the flesh ' which might be seen as supporting something like this (but LXX is not necessarily reliable as a deciding factor). Under this interpretation it would, however, simply be presumption of a different kind, and still be relying on the security of Jerusalem to protect them. They would be advocating building houses and by it denying that Yahweh was about to act against the city.
An alternative idea is that ‘the time is not near to build houses' had the exiles in mind. The exiles were being exhorted by the prophets to settle down in exile. Perhaps these men were arguing, against Yahweh, that now was not the time to build houses in exile, it was the time for freeing Jerusalem. (The words were in vision and finally intended for the exiles to interpret and understand. They were to see this as wrong advice, and iniquitous).
But the central point is the same in all views. That they were being presumptious, that they were relying on the fallacy of the inviolability of Jerusalem, that they were exalting themselves, and that they were ignoring Yahweh's words through His prophets. They were frighteningly blind to their own failures and self-satisfied in spite of their iniquitous behaviour.