Jeremiah 35:16

_BECAUSE THE SONS OF JONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB HAVE PERFORMED THE COMMANDMENT OF THEIR FATHER, WHICH HE COMMANDED THEM; BUT THIS PEOPLE HATH NOT HEARKENED UNTO ME:_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

The Prophet says nothing new here, but confirms what has been said before; and this he did, that the indignity of the people’s conduct might more fully appear, inasmuch as, on one hand, a mortal man, and he now dead, retained authority over his posterity, having once laid on them a restraint in a matter hard and difficult; while God, on the other hand, effected nothing, though he had constantly addressed and exhorted his people, had sent prophets, and ceased not to invite them to himself, and had not only invited them, but also kindly allured them by setting before them his favors, and gave them hope as to the time to come. Since God, then, had tried all means, but without any success, the hopeless depravity of the people became hence evident. This is the import of the whole....

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....

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;...

BECAUSE THE SON OF JONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB,.... Here we have the contrast between the Rechabites and the Israelites; the obedience of the one, and the disobedience of the other; the design of which is to aggravate and expose the sin of the Jews, since the former HAVE PERFORMED THE COMMANDMENT OF THEIR FATHER, WHICH HE COMMANDED THEM; that particular commandment of not drinking wine, which they had never once violated in such a course of time; nor could they now be prevailed upon, even by the prophet himself, to do it: BUT THIS PEOPLE HATH NOT HEARKENED UNTO ME; the Lord their God, their father that bought them, made them, and established them. Gross ingratitude! Deuteronomy 32:6....

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....

THEREFORE WILL. BRING UPON JUDAH..... ALL THE EVIL THAT. HAVE PRONOUNCED AGAINST THEM. The threatenings of God, pronounced in Deut. chap. 28, by Isaiah, Jeremiah and other prophets, were all conditional. Blessings were promised for obedience; woes for disobedience. Now the national cup of iniquity was full, and the hour of destruction, long foretold, was at hand. In the hour when the temple should be desecrated by the Gentile and its sacred vessels carried away to Babylon, God bade them remember that these things had come "because he had spoken and they had not heard; called unto them and they had not answered." There is no greater insult than to treat the message of. king or. father as if he had not spoken; to meet it with silent contempt....

BECAUSE, &C. They are praised for their _obedience,_ without reference to the nature of the command. Jonadab is not justified by this for imposing his will on all his posterity....

See introd. summary to the section. This portion, which forms the application of the preceding narrative, seems to have received considerable later additions. The LXX seem to present it in practically its original form....