It shows the complete corruption of Jerusalem. The priesthood and the leaders of the nation were steeped in wickedness and defied God and the judgment He had announced through Jeremiah, and now also through Ezekiel. Interesting are the names of those mentioned, Jaazaniah ("He will be heard of the Lord"); Azur ("Helper"); Pelatiah ("Delivered of the Lord"); Benaiah ("Built up of the Lord"). Their names indicate that they knew the Lord and His truth and yet they had turned deliberately from Him and from His Word. They devised mischief (or iniquity) and gave wicked counsel. Their wicked counsel consisted in disobedience against Jehovah and His Word. In regard to the judgment they said, "It is not the time to build houses; this is the cauldron and we are the flesh." They knew of Jeremiah's letter which he had sent to the elders which were carried away captives. In that letter, Jeremiah, believing God's Word concerning the long duration of the captivity, gave the advice, "Build ye houses and dwell in them" (Jere. xxix). They ridiculed that divinely given advice. They still thought themselves safe in Jerusalem. The phrase "this is the cauldron" means the city of Jerusalem; and we are the "flesh" themselves. As the flesh in the cauldron is preserved from the fire by the cauldron itself, so they felt themselves secure in the doomed city. That these wicked leaders were still in the city shows that the judgment in chapter ix was not a complete judgment. It began at the sanctuary, and the wicked worshippers Ezekiel saw in his vision were smitten first of all, while the man with the inkhorn marked the entire remnant for preservation. Then the Spirit fell upon Ezekiel and he uttered Jehovah's message. Their proverb about the cauldron and the flesh is used to announce their own doom. Those whom they had slain were the flesh, not they the living ones; the slain ones had the city for a cauldron. But the defiant leaders, who cast the judgment predictions to the winds, would be brought forth out of the city, the place of their supposed security. They feared the sword and it would come upon them. Solemnly the Lord declared, "This city shall not be your cauldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; I will judge you in the border of Israel." And thus it came true. Nebuchadnezzar received his prisoners on the borders, the territory of the kingdom of Israel, at Riblah (2 Kings xxv:18-21; Jer. lii:24-27). All this finds a repetition in the present age. God has spoken. Long ago He has in His Word announced the judgment upon this present age. Men, religious men, leaders among the people, like these twenty-five, reject His Word and do not believe in the threatened judgments. "Peace and safety" is their false hope. But the day is coming and not far off when all who reject the Word of God will find out, to their eternal shame and loss, that His Word is true.