Jeremiah 35:19

Someone from their family would "stand before" Yahweh forever-because they had obeyed their father, Jonadab. "Stand before" usually describes someone who served Yahweh in some special way (cf. Jeremiah 7:10; Jeremiah 15:19; Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 10:8; 1 Kings 10:8; 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:15; 2 Kings 3:14; 2 Chronicles 29:11). However, it also describes simple worshippers of Yahweh (Jeremiah 7:10; Leviticus 9:5; Deuteronomy 4:10). The promise probably pointed to a continuing line rather than to a specific ministry. [Note: Dyer, "Jeremiah," p. 1180.]

"According to the Mishnah ’the children of Jonadab son of Rechab’ had a fixed day in the year for bringing wood for the altar of the temple. Other traditions refer to ’water-drinking’ sacrificers whose descent is traced to Jonadab." [Note: Thompson, p. 619. The references in the Mishnah and Talmud are Talmud, Ta’anit 4:5, and Midrash Rabbah, Gen. 98:10; Sifre, Numbers 28:81; Talmud, Ta’anit 4:2; 28a; 68a.]

"Even today, in Syria and Arabia, there are groups that claim to be Rechabites and that follow the Rechabite rule." [Note: Graybill, p. 681.]

"God is always looking for individuals whose lives are characterized by faithfulness. Such individuals will experience God’s blessing even in the midst of trials." [Note: Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 625.]

"Incidentally, as a secondary thrust of this episode, we are reminded that God, who loves unity and truth, is no lover of uniformity. By his own order of Nazirites he called some people, but not others, to an austerity not unlike that of the Rechabites, to make a particular point; and the fact that Jesus and John the Baptist glorified God by different lifestyles should open our minds to the reality and value of specialized callings-such as even the once-flourishing temperance movement which adopted the name of Rechabites in nineteenth-century England." [Note: Kidner, p. 119.]