Jeremiah 35:17

Therefore, the Lord was going to bring upon the people all the disaster that He had previously warned them about. They had not listened to Him when He spoke to them, or answered Him when He called to them.

"Notice the telling contrasts between the Recabites and Judah.

"1. The Recabites obeyed a fallible leader (Jeremiah 35:14); Judah’s leader was the eternal God (cf. Malachi 1:6).

"2. Jonadab gave his commands to the Recabites only once; God repeatedly sent his messages to his people (Jeremiah 35:15).

"3. The restrictions that bound the Recabites did not deal with eternal issues; God’s messages to his people had eternal as well as temporal implications.

"4. The Recabites obeyed the commands of Jonadab for about three hundred years; the Lord’s people constantly disobeyed (Jeremiah 35:16).

"5. The loyalty of the Recabites would be rewarded; for their disloyalty God’s people would be punished (Jeremiah 35:17)." [Note: Ibid., p. 602.]