Jeremiah 35:1-5 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 35:1-11

This chapter is of an earlier date than many of those before; for what is contained in it was said and done in the days of Jehoiakim (Jer. 35:1); but then it must be in the latter part of his reign, for it was after the king of Babylon with his army came up into the land (Jer. 35:11), which seems to refer to the invasion mentioned 2 Kgs. 24:2; which was upon occasion of Jehoiakim's rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar. After the judgments of God had broken in upon this rebellious people he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 35:1

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord ,.... Not as following the former prophecies; for they must be delivered seventeen years after this. The prophecies of Jeremiah are not put together in their proper time in which they were delivered. The preceding prophecies were delivered in the "tenth" and "eleventh" years of Zedekiah's reign: but this in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah ; in what part of his reign is not certain; but it must be after Nebuchadnezzar... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 35:2

Go unto the house of the Rechabites ,.... Or "family" F3 אל בית "ad familiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ; these are the same with the Kenites, who descended from Hobab or Jethro, Moses's father in law, Judges 1:16 ; these, as their ancestors, became proselytes to Israel, and always continued with them, though a distinct people from them; these here had their name from Rechab, a famous man in his time among those people: and speak unto them, and bring them into the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 35:3

Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah ,.... Who was, no doubt, the most famous and leading man in this family: and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites ; the several branches of the family, especially the males; the women perhaps only excepted; whom it might not be so decent to gather together on such an occasion, to drink wine; or at least offer it to them. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 35:4

And I brought them into the house of the Lord ,.... Into the temple, as he was ordered; that is, he invited them thither, and they came along with him, having, no doubt, a respect for him as a prophet; and the rather, as it is highly probable he came in the name of the Lord to them: into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God ; a prophet, as the Targum and Syriac version; and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it. This must be understood of Hanan, and not... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 35:5

And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups ,.... Which the prophet might have out of the chambers where these vessels were, and particularly from Maaseiah, if he was a keeper of them, as before observed. The number of men gathered together was probably very large; and therefore pots, or large vessels of wine, were prepared, and set before them, and cups, lesser vessels, to drink out of: and I said unto them, drink ye wine ; he invited them to it,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 35:1

The word which came - in the days of Jehoiakim - What strange confusion in the placing of these chapters! Who could have expected to hear of Jehoiakim again, whom we have long ago buried; and we have now arrived in the history at the very last year of the last Jewish king. This discourse was probably delivered in the fourth or fifth year of Jehoiakim's reign. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 35:2

The house of the Rechabites - The Rechabites were not descendants of Jacob; they were Kenites, 1 Chronicles 2:55 , a people originally settled in that part of Arabia Petroea, called the land of Midian; and most probably the descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Compare Numbers 10:29-32 , with Judges 1:16 ; Judges 4:11 . Those mentioned here seem to have been a tribe of Nomades or Scenite Arabs, who fed their flocks in the deserts of Judea; they preserved the simple... read more

Adam Clarke