Bible Commentaries

The Example of the Rechabites

By the command of God, Jeremiah brings the family of the Rechabites(who had fled for refuge to Jerusalem before the approach of theChaldeans) into one of the chambers of the temple, and sets before themsome wine to drink (Jeremiah 35:1-5). They decline to drink, because the head oftheir family had forbidden them the use of wine, as well as the possessionof houses and the cultivation of the soil, and had commanded them to livein tents (Jeremiah 35:6-11). Jeremiah is to put this before the people of Judah. TheRechabites faithfully observe the command of their ancestor, while thepeople of Judah transgress the commands of their God, which arecontinually presented to them (Jeremiah 35:12-16). Therefore the threatenedcalamity shall fall upon Judah; but the house of Rechab, as a reward fortheir faithfulness to the injunctions of their ancestor, shall continue forever (Jeremiah 35:17-19).

According to Jeremiah 35:1, this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the fourthyear of the reign of Jehoiakim, and, according to Jeremiah 35:11, previous to thearrival of Nebuchadnezzar and his host before Jerusalem; thereforeperhaps in the summer of the year 606 b.c., for Jerusalem was taken forthe first time by Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth month (December) of thatyear.

Jeremiah's dealings with the Rechabites - Jeremiah 35:2. Jeremiah is to go to the house, i.e., the family, of the Rechabites, speak with them, and bring them into tone of the chambers of the temple, and set before them wine to drink. בּית, Jeremiah 35:2, Jeremiah 35:3, Jeremiah 35:18, is exchanged for בּני בית־הרכבים, Jeremiah 35:5, from which it is apparent that "the house of the Rechabites" does not mean their dwelling-place, but the family, called in 1 Chronicles 2:55 בּית־רכב. According to this passage, the Rechabites were a branch of the Kenites, i.e., descendants of the Kenite, the father-in-law of Moses (Judges 1:16), who had gone to Canaan with the Israelites, and welt among them, partly in the wilderness on the southern frontier of the tribe of Judah (1 Samuel 15:6; 1 Samuel 27:10; 1 Samuel 30:29), partly at Kadesh in Naphtali (Judges 4:11, Judges 4:17; Judges 5:24). Their ancestor, or father of the tribe, was Rechab, the father of Jonadab, with whom Jehu made a friendly alliance (2 Kings 10:15, 2 Kings 10:23). Jonadab had laid on them the obligation to live in the special manner mentioned below, in order to keep them in the simplicity of nomad life observed by their fathers, and to preserve them from the corrupting influences connected with a settled life. לשׁכות, "cells of the temple," were additional buildings in the temple fore-courts, used partly for keeping the stores of the temple (1 Chronicles 28:12), partly as dwellings for those who served in it, and as places of meeting for those who came to visit it; see Ezekiel 40:17.

Jeremiah 35:3-4

In executing the command of the Lord, Jeremiah took (went for) Jaazaniah, son of Jeremiah, son of Habaziniah, and all his brethren, and sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, and brought them into the temple-chamber of the sons of Hanan. Jaazaniah was probably the then chief of the Rechabites. The chamber of the sons of Hanan was situated next the princes' chamber, which stood over that of Maaseiah the door-keeper. Nothing further is known about Hanan the son of Jigdaliah; here he is called "the man of God," an honourable title of the prophets - see e.g., 1 Kings 12:22 - for, according to the usual mode of construction, אישׁ האלהים does not belong to Jigdaliah, but to Hanan, cf. Jeremiah 28:1; Zechariah 1:1. "The chamber of the princes" is the chamber where the princes, the chiefs of the people, used to assemble in the temple. Its position is more exactly described by ממּעל לל, "over the chamber of Maaseiah," but not very clearly for us, since the buildings of the temple fore-courts are nowhere else more exactly described; however, see on Jeremiah 36:10. Maaseiah was שׁמר הסּף, "keeper of the threshold," i.e., overseer of the watchmen of the temple gates, of which, according to Jeremiah 52:24 and 2 Kings 25:18, there were three, who are there mentioned along with the high priest and his substitute Maaseiah is probably the same whose son Zephaniah was כּהן המּשׁנה, cf. Jeremiah 52:24 with Jeremiah 37:3; Jeremiah 29:25, and Jeremiah 21:1.

Jeremiah 35:5-7

There, Jeremiah caused bowls filled with wine to be set before the Rechabites, and commanded them to drink. (גּביעים are large goblets, bowls, out of which drinking-cups [כּסות ] were filled.) But they explained that they did not drink wine, because their father, i.e., their ancestor, Jonadab had forbidden them and their posterity to drink wine for ever, as also to build houses, to sow seed, and to plant vineyards, i.e., to settle themselves down in permanent dwellings and to pursue agriculture. ולא יהיה לכם, "And there shall not be to you," sc. what has just been named, i.e., ye must not possess houses, growing-crops, or vineyards (cf. Jeremiah 35:9),

(Note: These injunctions, given by Jonadab to his posterity, that he might make them always lead a nomad life, are quoted by Diodorus Siculus, xix. 94, as a law among the Nabateans: Νόμος ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς μήτε σίτον σπείρειν, μήτε φυτεύειν μηδὲν φυτὸν καρποφόρον, μήτε οἴνῳ χρῆσθαι, μήτε οἰκίαν κατασεκυάζειν ; while the object of the law is stated to have been the maintenance of their freedom against the more powerful who sought to bring them into subjection. And even at the present day the Bedouins imagine that they are prevented, by the nobility of their descent from Ishmael, from engaging in agriculture, handicraft, or the arts; cf. Arvieux, Sitten der Beduinen-Araber, 5f.)

but ye are to dwell in tents all your life, that ye may live long, etc. This promise is an imitation of that found in Exodus 20:12.

Jeremiah 35:8-11

This command of their forefather they observe in all points, and therefore dwell in tents; and only because of Nebuchadnezzar's arrival in the country have they come to Jerusalem, in order to find refuge for a time from the army of the Chaldeans and that of Aram (the Arameans). The special mention of the army of Aram in connection with that of the Chaldeans is perhaps due to the frequent predatory incursions made, at an earlier period, on Israel and Judah by the Syrians. According to 2 Kings 24:2, after Jehoiakim had rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, hostile bands of Arameans invaded Judah for the purpose of laying waste the country.

The example of the Rechabites is one for Judah. - Jeremiah is to proclaimthe word of the Lord to the people of Judah, as follows: Jeremiah 35:13. "Thussaith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judahand the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction bylistening to my words? saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 35:14. The words of Jonadab the sonof Rechab, who commanded this sons not to drink wine, are performed,and they have drunk no wine to this day, but have obeyed the command oftheir father. But I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking, yetye have not listened unto me. Jeremiah 35:15. And I sent unto you all my servantsthe prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Turn ye, now, everyone from his evil way, and do good deeds, and do not go after other gods,to serve them; then shall ye dwell in the land which I have given to youand to your fathers. But ye did not incline your ear, nor hearken unto me. Jeremiah 35:16. Yea, the children of Jonadab the son of Rechab have observed thecommandment of their father which he commanded them, while thispeople have not hearkened unto me. Jeremiah 35:17. Therefore, thus saith Jahveh,the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah andon the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil which I have uttered regardingthem, because I spake unto them and they did not hear, and I called untothem, but they did not answer. Jeremiah 35:18. And to the house of the RechabitesJeremiah said: Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, Because yehave listened to the command of Jonadab your father, and have kept all hiscommandments, and have done according to all that he commanded you, Jeremiah 35:19. Therefore, thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab theson of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever."
The command, "Go and speak to the men of Judah," etc., shows that itwas not in the chamber of the temple, in presence of the Rechabites, butprobably in one of the temple fore-courts, that Jeremiah addressed thefollowing word of the Lord to the people assembled there. In order toshame the Jews thoroughly, he shows them the faithfulness with whichthe Rechabites observe the ordinances of their ancestor Jonadab. The character of the address, as one intended to rouse feelings of shame, is indicated even at the beginning of Jeremiah 35:13: "Will ye not receive instruction by hearkening to the words of the Lord?" The Hoph. הוּקם is construed as a passive with the accus.; in the older writers we frequently find this construction, in which the passive is used impersonally, hence the sing. is here employed: cf. Ges. §143, 1, Ew. §295, b. "To this day" - now for nearly 300 years without interruption; for Jonadab was already held in high esteem when Jehu ascended the throne, 883 b.c. (2 Kings 10:15). Judah, on the contrary, does not listen to the commandments which his God unceasingly inculcates on him, but rather wanders after other gods, to serve them. On Jeremiah 35:15 cf. Jeremiah 25:4-5. אל־האדמה stands for על־האדמה, Jeremiah 25:5. - In Jeremiah 35:16, where the introductory כּי, imo, indicates a culmination, the idea is once more briefly expressed. Nägelsbach incorrectly renders כּי "because," and makes Jeremiah 35:16 the protasis to Jeremiah 35:17. "Such a protasis with because (quia), without any connection with what precedes, is contrary to the use of language" (Hitzig). On the threat of punishment in Jeremiah 35:17, see Jeremiah 11:11.

The declaration concerning the Rechabites is introduced by the formula,"And to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said;" thereby, too, it isshown that the statement does not form an integral portion of thepreceding address, but was uttered by Jeremiah perhaps at the close of histransactions with them (Jeremiah 35:11). But it is not given till now, in order tosignify to the people of Judah that even fidelity to paternal commands hasits own rewards, to make the threat uttered against Judah all the moreimpressive. On the promise Jeremiah 35:19, cf. Jeremiah 33:18. Since עמד denotes the standing of a servant before his master, and inJeremiah 7:10 is used of the appearance of the people before the Lord in the temple,עמד לפני seems here also to express not merely thepermanence of the family, but in addition, their continuance in the serviceof the Lord, without, of course, involving sacerdotal service; cf. on the other hand, Jeremiah 33:18, where this service is more exactly described. The acknowledgment of the Lord on the part of the Rechabites is a necessary result of their connection with Israel.

(Note: According to the account of the Jewish missionary Wolff, there are still some Rechabites in Asia, in Mesopotamia and Yemen, who affirm that they are descended from Hobab the brother-in-law [A.V. "father-in-law;" but see Smith's Bible Dictionary, vol. i. Hobab] of Moses. Wolff points out that part of the desert of Yemen near Senaa as the special locality where these Rechabites live. Cf. Dr. Joseph Wolff, ein Wanderleben, von Dr. Sengelmann, Hamburg 1863, S. 65 u 196.)