Jeremiah 35:1-11

The Fact

v. 1. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, about in the summer of the year 606 B. C. saying,

v. 2. Go unto the house of the Rechabites, a family descending from the tribe of the Kenites, with some prominent members, 2 Kings 10:15-Isaiah :, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, the small cells built on the outside of the walls, used chiefly for storage purposes, 1 Kings 6:5, and give them wine to drink, offering them this intoxicant to put them to a test. Rechab, the father of Jonadab and the ancestor of the tribe, had given his children the command to abstain from wine in order to keep them in the simplicity of their forefathers and to protect them from moral decay.

v. 3. Then I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, all the members of the family that could be found,

v. 4. and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, that is, a prophet who occupied this cell, which was by the chamber of the princes, where the rulers of the people assembled at that time for the sessions of the great council, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, probably the same man that occupied the position of second priest in the nation, Jeremiah 29:25; Jeremiah 21:1, the keeper of the door, the chief officer of the Temple-guard or of that section which was entrusted with watching the Temple-gates;

v. 5. and I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. This invitation was included in the plan of the Lord, for their passing the test successfully was to be made the theme of a discourse to the people.

v. 6. But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons, forever, not merely a wise temperance, but a total abstinence being required of them;

v. 7. neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any, in following any agricultural or horticultural pursuit, on account of which they might become settled in any one place; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, leading a more or less nomadic life, like their forefathers before them, that ye, in obedience to their ancestor's command, may live many days in the land where ye be strangers; for, although living in the midst of Israel and Judah and having accepted the true God, the Rechabites maintained their own nationality.

v. 8. Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he hath charged us, thereby setting a splendid example of obedience, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters,

v. 9. nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed;

v. 10. but we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab, our father, commanded us.

v. 11. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land, his invading army threatening the ancient dwelling-places of the Kenites first, that we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians, for marauding bands of Syrian tribes took every opportunity to plunder exposed parts of Palestine, 2 Kings 24:2. So we dwell at Jerusalem, making use of the city as a temporary refuge, until they might return to their home-land. The Rechabites thus offered a fine example of willing obedience to the command of their tribal head.