Jeremiah 35:8

_THUS HAVE WE OBEYED THE VOICE OF JONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB OUR FATHER IN ALL THAT HE HATH CHARGED US, TO DRINK NO WINE ALL OUR DAYS, WE, OUR WIVES, OUR SONS, NOR OUR DAUGHTERS;_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Jeremiah explains at large what might have been expressed in few words, in order to amplify the constancy of the Rechabites. For one may obey his father, and yet be not so fixed in his purpose, but that he might on some slight occasion fail in his duty. Jeremiah here shews that such was the prompt perseverance of the Rechabites, that they could not be enticed by having wine set before them; but that as though no temptation had been presented to them, they kept the commandment of their father, who, at the same time, had been dead, as it has already appeared, some ages before. They then said, that they _hearkened to the voice of Jonabab the son of Rechab, their father; _and also added, _according to all the things which he has commanded us _tle again relates what Jonadab had commanded, and to this belongs the sentence, _According to all things, _etc. For had he ordered them only to be abst...

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 35:8. _THUS HAVE WE OBEYED THE VOICE_] We have considered these precepts so very _reasonable_, so very _useful_, so _conducive_ to the _health of both body and mind_, and sanctioned by such a respectable _antiquity_ that we scrupulously and religiously observe them....

OUR FATHER - Not merely our ancestor, but the founder of our institutions....

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;...

THUS HAVE WE OBEYED THE VOICE OF JONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB OUR FATHER,.... The above was the charge he gave them; and this, in every article of it, they had carefully and constantly kept, though it had been for the space of three hundred years, or thereabout; as follows: IN ALL HE HATH CHARGED US, TO DRINK NO WINE ALL OUR DAYS, WE, OUR WIVES, OUR SONS, NOR OUR DAUGHTERS; which was the first of the precepts he gave them: and which they were now tempted to disregard, but were resolved to observe it, as they had hitherto done. The rest of the articles follow....

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....

A. The Fidelity of the Rechabites Jeremiah 35:1-11 TRANSLATION (1) The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, (2) Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them to the house of the LORD unto one of the chambers, and offer them wine to drink. (3) And I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. (4) And I brought them to the house of the LORD, unto the chamber of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which is beside the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. (5) And I placed before the sons of the house of Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said unto them, Drink wine! (6) And they responded, We do not drin