Ezekiel 11:2-3

The Lord told Ezekiel that these men were those who were planning wickedness and giving bad advice to the residents of Jerusalem. They were encouraging the people either to feel secure by advising them to build homes and plan on living long in Jerusalem (cf. Ezekiel 28:26) or to prepare for battle rather than submitting to the Babylonians. Either interpretation is possible because the unbelieving leadership of Jerusalem was advising both courses of action. The true prophets, like Jeremiah, however, were telling them to submit to the Babylonians (Jeremiah 21:8-10). Jeremiah wrote the exiles advising them to build homes and settle down in captivity (Jeremiah 29:5). These wicked leaders were comparing the people of Jerusalem to meat in a clay cooking pot. They were saying that the people were as secure in the city, even though they were uncomfortably "hot," as meat inside a kettle is safe from the fire outside it. The walls and fortifications of the city, and God Himself, they said, would amply protect the people from the fiery hostility of the Babylonian army.