Jeremiah 35:4

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, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door: HANAN ... A MAN OF GOD - a prophet (Moses, ; ; Shemaiah in Rehoboam's reign, ; Elisha, ); also 'a servant of God' in general (); one not his own; but Gods; one who has parted with all right in himself, to give himself wholly to God ...

1-11 Jonadab was famous for wisdom and piety. He lived nearly 300 years before, 2 Kings 10:15. Jonadab charged his posterity not to drink wine. He also appointed them to dwell in tents, or movable dwelling: this would teach them not to think of settling any where in this world. To keep low, would be the way to continue long in the land where they were strangers. Humility and contentment are always the best policy, and men's surest protection. Also, that they might not run into unlawful pleasures, they were to deny themselves even lawful delights. The consideration that we are strangers and pilgrims should oblige us to abstain from all fleshly lusts. Let them have little to lose, and then losing times would be the less dreadful: let them sit loose to what they had, and then they might with less pain be stript of it. Those are in the best frame to meet sufferings who live a life of self-d...

Verse Jeremiah 35:4. _IGDALIAH, A MAN OF GOD_] A prophet or holy man, having some office in the temple....

The title man of God, i. e., prophet, belongs to Hanan, identified by many with Hanani 2 Chronicles 16:7. The sons of Hanan were probably his disciples. If so, we find a religious school or sect, regularly established in the precincts of the temple, of whose views and modes of interpretation we know nothing. Plainly however, the Hananites were friendly to Jeremiah, and lent him their hall for his purpose. THE CHAMBER OF THE PRINCES - Probably the council-chamber in which the great officers of state met for the despatch of business. THE KEEPER OF THE DOOR - There were three of these keepers, answering to the outer and inner courts of the temple, and the entrance to the temple itself. They were officers of high rank, having precedence next to the high priest and his deputy.

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;...

AND I BROUGHT THEM INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD,.... Into the temple, as he was ordered; that is, he invited them thither, and they came along with him, having, no doubt, a respect for him as a prophet; and the rather, as it is highly probable he came in the name of the Lord to them: INTO THE CHAMBER OF THE SONS OF HANAN, THE SON OF IGDALIAH, A MAN OF GOD; a prophet, as the Targum and Syriac version; and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it. This must be understood of Hanan, and not Igdaliah, as the accents show: he is thought by some to be the same with Hanani the seer, in the times of Asa, 2 Chronicles 16:7; WHICH [WAS] BY THE CHAMBER OF THE PRINCES; these were not the princes of the blood, the sons of Jehoiachim; their chambers or apartments were not in the temple, but in the royal palace; but these were the princes or rulers of the people, as t

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....

IGDALIAH. See note on Psalms 90:1. A MAN OF GOD. the man (Hebrew. _'ish_, App-14.) of God (Hebrew. _Elohim._ App-4.): i.e.. prophet. See App-49. MAASEIAH, &C. He was the deputy of the High Priest. Compare Jeremiah 52:24; 2 Kings 25:18. Probably the same whose son Zephaniah, after the carrying away of Maaseiah with Jehoiachin (Jeremiah 29:1), held office under Zedekiah (Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 29:5;...

The particularity in description points to the narrative being contemporary with the events it describes. _and I brought them into the house of the Lord_ that so what was to follow might be made most prominent and be most widely known. _Maaseiah_ probably father of the Zephaniah (Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 29:25; Jeremiah 37:3) who is mentioned as "second priest" in Jeremiah 52:24. _keeper of the door_ lit. _threshold_. There were three of these officers (Jeremiah 52:24;...