It is not near. The Hebrew of this half-proverbial saying is so tersely expressed that it is obscure. The passage reads literally, “not near to build houses. It [the city] the caldron, we the flesh.” There may be a jeering reference to the message that Jeremiah had sent to the captives in Babylon to build houses and to make themselves comfortable, for the time of the Captivity would be long. This message angered many of the captives, and they sent letters to Jerusalem demanding that Jeremiah be punished (Jer. 29:24–28). The saying of the princes was possibly in contradiction to Jeremiah’s message, which stated: “The time to build houses for a long captivity is not near.”
Some think the reference is to the rebellious leaders in Jerusalem, who, ignoring Jeremiah’s warning concerning the impending destruction of the city, continued to lay plans for building operations in the doomed city.
The metaphor of the caldron seems to be borrowed from Jeremiah (see Jer. 1:13). The meaning may be that as a caldron protects the flesh in it from the fire, so the walls of the city will protect its inhabitants from the army of the Chaldeans. The LXX has the saying in the form of a question expecting a positive answer, “Is not the time near to build houses?” The attitude thus expressed clearly reflects the self-confident boasting of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (see Jer. 28:3). Jeremiah had counseled the Jews that were in the city to go out and surrender to the Chaldeans (Jer. 21:9). This counsel they insolently rejected, by choosing to remain in the “caldron.” This thought fits the context of the chapter, because the narrative proceeds to show that this “privilege” would be denied them. It is also possible that the metaphor means that as the “caldron” is the place where the “flesh” belongs, so Jerusalem is where its inhabitants belong—implying that they will remain there. Compare Jer. 13:12.
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