Jeremiah 35:15

I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. RETURN YE NOW EVERY MAN FROM HIS EVIL WAY (; Jeremiah 25:5). I enjoined nothing unreasonable, but simply to serve me, and I attached to the command a gracious promise, but in vain. If Jonadab's commands, which were arbitrary, and not moral obligations in themselves, were obeyed, much more ought mine, which are in themselves right....

He afterwards adds, that he was assiduous in teaching them, _rising early and speaking _By _speaking, _he intimates that he had daily repeated the same things, so that forgetfulness might not be pleaded by the Jews as an excuse: _I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and ye obeyed me not _Then follows an explanation,wthat God had sent the Prophets: the Jews would have otherwise been ready to object and say, that God had never appeared to them. Hence he says, that he had spoken to them by his Prophets. _I have sent, _he says, and indeed many — _I have sent all my servants, _etc.; for if Moses only had commanded the Jews what was right, they might have pretended that the Law was buried and forgotten, and that they had no recollection of what Moses had taught. Hence to meet such evasions, he says shortly, that he had _sent all his servants, _that is, that he had sent many Prop...

12-19 The trial of the Rechabites' constancy was for a sign; it made the disobedience of the Jews to God the more marked. The Rechabites were obedient to one who was but a man like themselves, and Jonadab never did for his seed what God has done for his people. Mercy is promised to the Rechabites. We are not told respecting the performance of this promise; but doubtless it was performed, and travellers say the Rechabites may be found a separate people to this day. Let us follow the counsels of our pious forefathers, and we shall find good in so doing....

ALL ... THE PROPHETS - The Rechabites had had but one lawgiver: the Jews had had a succession of messengers from God....

EXPOSITION The third member of this group of short prophecies. In it, Jeremiah points to the faithful obedience of the Rechabites, as putting to shame the infidelity of Judahites. It belongs obviously to the time before the arrival of Nebuchadnezzar, perhaps to the summer of B.C. 606. (See Dr. Plumptre's poem, "The House of the Rechabites," part 2, in 'Lazarus and other Poems.') JEREMIAH 35:2 THE HOUSE OF THE RECHABITES ("house" equivalent to "family"). From a notice in 1 Chronicles 2:55 it appears that the Rechabites were a subdivision of the Kenites, the nomad tribe so closely connected with the Israelites (Judges 1:16;...

I HAVE SENT ALSO UNTO YOU ALL MY SERVANTS THE PROPHETS,.... One after another, ever since the times of Moses, to explain and enforce the laws given; a circumstance not to be observed in the case of the Rechabites; who yet, without such intimations, kept the charge their father gave them: RISING UP EARLY, AND SENDING [THEM]; see Jeremiah 7:13; SAYING, RETURN YE NOW EVERY MAN FROM HIS EVIL WAY, AND AMEND YOUR DOINGS, AND GO NOT AFTER OTHER GODS TO SERVE THEM; all which were of a moral nature, and what were in themselves just and fit to be done; that they should repent of their sins, refrain from them, and reform their lives, and abstain from idolatry, and worship the one only living and true God, which was but their reasonable service; whereas abstinence from wine, enjoined the Rechabites, was an indifferent thing, neither morally good nor evil; and yet

CHAPTER 35 The Faithful Rechabites and the Unfaithful Jews _ 1. The command concerning the Rechabites (Jeremiah 35:1) _ 2. The lesson for the Jews (Jeremiah 35:12) The Rechabites were Kenites and were numbered with the children of Israel 1 Chronicles 2:55. During the reign of Jehoiakim the incident of this chapter happened. The critics may rave against the “unchronological” construction of Jeremiah jumping from one period into another, but there we see the guiding hand of the Spirit in the arrangement of these events. It is perfectly in order that this should come next to the chapter which relates the broken covenant. A careful reading and study of this chapter will bring

JEREMIAH 35. A LESSON IN OBEDIENCE FROM THE RECHABITES. These were the descendants of that Jonadab who, in 842, aided Jehu to overthrow the house of Ahab and the cult of Baal of Tyre (2 Kings 10:15 *); they were connected with the Kenites (1 Chronicles 2:55), from whom the worship of Yahweh may have passed to Israel (_cf._ Judges 1:16). The incident here described is to be dated _c._ 598 (_cf._ Jeremiah 35:11 with 2 Kings 24:2), _i.e._ after the events of Jeremiah 36....

RISING UP EARLY AND SENDING THEM. These verses point out the wonderful patience and long suffering of God and the continued effort to turn Israel away from its sins. They had from the time of Moses been assured that he would preserve them and keep them in the promised land, if they continued to serve him, but that if they turned to idols he would abandon them. They had made their choice and provoked the fate that was impending over them....

EVERY MAN. Hebrew. _Ish_. App-14. EVIL. Hebrew. _raa._ App-44....