14 The words H1697 of Jonadab H3082 the son H1121 of Rechab, H7394 that he commanded H6680 his sons H1121 not to drink H8354 wine, H3196 are performed; H6965 for unto this day H3117 they drink H8354 none, but obey H8085 their father's H1 commandment: H4687 notwithstanding I have spoken H1696 unto you, rising early H7925 and speaking; H1696 but ye hearkened H8085 not unto me.
From the thirteenth H7969 H6240 year H8141 of Josiah H2977 the son H1121 of Amon H526 king H4428 of Judah, H3063 even unto this day, H3117 that is the three H7969 and twentieth H6242 year, H8141 the word H1697 of the LORD H3068 hath come unto me, and I have spoken H1696 unto you, rising early H7925 and speaking; H1696 but ye have not hearkened. H8085 And the LORD H3068 hath sent H7971 unto you all his servants H5650 the prophets, H5030 rising early H7925 and sending H7971 them; but ye have not hearkened, H8085 nor inclined H5186 your ear H241 to hear. H8085
And the LORD H3068 God H430 of their fathers H1 sent H7971 to them by H3027 his messengers, H4397 rising up betimes, H7925 and sending; H7971 because he had compassion H2550 on his people, H5971 and on his dwelling place: H4583 But they mocked H3931 the messengers H4397 of God, H430 and despised H959 his words, H1697 and misused H8591 his prophets, H5030 until the wrath H2534 of the LORD H3068 arose H5927 against his people, H5971 till there was no remedy. H4832
Wisdom H2454 crieth H7442 without; H2351 she uttereth H5414 her voice H6963 in the streets: H7339 She crieth H7121 in the chief place H7218 of concourse, H1993 in the openings H6607 of the gates: H8179 in the city H5892 she uttereth H559 her words, H561 saying, How long, ye simple ones, H6612 will ye love H157 simplicity? H6612 and the scorners H3887 delight H2530 in their scorning, H3944 and fools H3684 hate H8130 knowledge? H1847 Turn H7725 you at my reproof: H8433 behold, I will pour out H5042 my spirit H7307 unto you, I will make known H3045 my words H1697 unto you. Because I have called, H7121 and ye refused; H3985 I have stretched out H5186 my hand, H3027 and no man regarded; H7181 But ye have set at nought H6544 all my counsel, H6098 and would H14 none of my reproof: H8433 I also will laugh H7832 at your calamity; H343 I will mock H3932 when your fear H6343 cometh; H935 When your fear H6343 cometh H935 as desolation, H7722 H7584 and your destruction H343 cometh H857 as a whirlwind; H5492 when distress H6869 and anguish H6695 cometh H935 upon you. Then shall they call H7121 upon me, but I will not answer; H6030 they shall seek me early, H7836 but they shall not find H4672 me: For that they hated H8130 knowledge, H1847 and did not choose H977 the fear H3374 of the LORD: H3068 They would H14 none of my counsel: H6098 they despised H5006 all my reproof. H8433 Therefore shall they eat H398 of the fruit H6529 of their own way, H1870 and be filled H7646 with their own devices. H4156 For the turning away H4878 of the simple H6612 shall slay H2026 them, and the prosperity H7962 of fools H3684 shall destroy H6 them. But whoso hearkeneth H8085 unto me shall dwell H7931 safely, H983 and shall be quiet H7599 from fear H6343 of evil. H7451
But they hearkened H8085 not, nor inclined H5186 their ear, H241 but walked H3212 in the counsels H4156 and in the imagination H8307 of their evil H7451 heart, H3820 and went backward, H268 and not forward. H6440 Since the day H3117 that your fathers H1 came forth out H3318 of the land H776 of Egypt H4714 unto this day H3117 I have even sent H7971 unto you all my servants H5650 the prophets, H5030 daily H3117 rising up early H7925 and sending H7971 them: Yet they hearkened H8085 not unto me, nor inclined H5186 their ear, H241 but hardened H7185 their neck: H6203 they did worse H7489 than their fathers. H1
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 35
Commentary on Jeremiah 35 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Example of the Rechabites
By the command of God, Jeremiah brings the family of the Rechabites (who had fled for refuge to Jerusalem before the approach of the Chaldeans) into one of the chambers of the temple, and sets before them some wine to drink (Jeremiah 35:1-5). They decline to drink, because the head of their family had forbidden them the use of wine, as well as the possession of houses and the cultivation of the soil, and had commanded them to live in tents (Jeremiah 35:6-11). Jeremiah is to put this before the people of Judah. The Rechabites faithfully observe the command of their ancestor, while the people of Judah transgress the commands of their God, which are continually presented to them (Jeremiah 35:12-16). Therefore the threatened calamity shall fall upon Judah; but the house of Rechab, as a reward for their faithfulness to the injunctions of their ancestor, shall continue for ever (Jeremiah 35:17-19).
According to Jeremiah 35:1, this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, and, according to Jeremiah 35:11, previous to the arrival of Nebuchadnezzar and his host before Jerusalem; therefore perhaps in the summer of the year 606 b.c., for Jerusalem was taken for the first time by Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth month (December) of that year.
Jeremiah's dealings with the Rechabites - Jeremiah 35:2. Jeremiah is to go to the house, i.e., the family, of the Rechabites, speak with them, and bring them into tone of the chambers of the temple, and set before them wine to drink. בּית , Jeremiah 35:2, Jeremiah 35:3, Jeremiah 35:18, is exchanged for בּני בית־הרכבים , Jeremiah 35:5, from which it is apparent that "the house of the Rechabites" does not mean their dwelling-place, but the family, called in 1 Chronicles 2:55 בּית־רכב . According to this passage, the Rechabites were a branch of the Kenites, i.e., descendants of the Kenite , the father-in-law of Moses (Judges 1:16), who had gone to Canaan with the Israelites, and welt among them, partly in the wilderness on the southern frontier of the tribe of Judah (1 Samuel 15:6; 1 Samuel 27:10; 1 Samuel 30:29), partly at Kadesh in Naphtali (Judges 4:11, Judges 4:17; Judges 5:24). Their ancestor, or father of the tribe, was Rechab, the father of Jonadab, with whom Jehu made a friendly alliance (2 Kings 10:15, 2 Kings 10:23). Jonadab had laid on them the obligation to live in the special manner mentioned below, in order to keep them in the simplicity of nomad life observed by their fathers, and to preserve them from the corrupting influences connected with a settled life. לשׁכות , "cells of the temple," were additional buildings in the temple fore-courts, used partly for keeping the stores of the temple (1 Chronicles 28:12), partly as dwellings for those who served in it, and as places of meeting for those who came to visit it; see Ezekiel 40:17.
Jeremiah 35:3-4
In executing the command of the Lord, Jeremiah took (went for) Jaazaniah, son of Jeremiah, son of Habaziniah, and all his brethren, and sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, and brought them into the temple-chamber of the sons of Hanan. Jaazaniah was probably the then chief of the Rechabites. The chamber of the sons of Hanan was situated next the princes' chamber, which stood over that of Maaseiah the door-keeper. Nothing further is known about Hanan the son of Jigdaliah; here he is called "the man of God," an honourable title of the prophets - see e.g., 1 Kings 12:22 - for, according to the usual mode of construction, אישׁ האלהים does not belong to Jigdaliah , but to Hanan , cf. Jeremiah 28:1; Zechariah 1:1. "The chamber of the princes" is the chamber where the princes, the chiefs of the people, used to assemble in the temple. Its position is more exactly described by ממּעל לל , "over the chamber of Maaseiah," but not very clearly for us, since the buildings of the temple fore-courts are nowhere else more exactly described; however, see on Jeremiah 36:10. Maaseiah was שׁמר הסּף , "keeper of the threshold," i.e., overseer of the watchmen of the temple gates, of which, according to Jeremiah 52:24 and 2 Kings 25:18, there were three, who are there mentioned along with the high priest and his substitute Maaseiah is probably the same whose son Zephaniah was כּהן המּשׁנה , cf. Jeremiah 52:24 with Jeremiah 37:3; Jeremiah 29:25, and Jeremiah 21:1.
Jeremiah 35:5-7
There, Jeremiah caused bowls filled with wine to be set before the Rechabites, and commanded them to drink. ( גּביעים are large goblets, bowls, out of which drinking-cups [ כּסות ] were filled.) But they explained that they did not drink wine, because their father, i.e., their ancestor, Jonadab had forbidden them and their posterity to drink wine for ever, as also to build houses, to sow seed, and to plant vineyards, i.e., to settle themselves down in permanent dwellings and to pursue agriculture. ולא יהיה לכם , "And there shall not be to you," sc. what has just been named, i.e., ye must not possess houses, growing-crops, or vineyards (cf. Jeremiah 35:9),
(Note: These injunctions, given by Jonadab to his posterity, that he might make them always lead a nomad life, are quoted by Diodorus Siculus, xix. 94, as a law among the Nabateans: Νόμος ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς μήτε σίτον σπείρειν, μήτε φυτεύειν μηδὲν φυτὸν καρποφόρον, μήτε οἴνῳ χρῆσθαι, μήτε οἰκίαν κατασεκυάζειν ; while the object of the law is stated to have been the maintenance of their freedom against the more powerful who sought to bring them into subjection. And even at the present day the Bedouins imagine that they are prevented, by the nobility of their descent from Ishmael, from engaging in agriculture, handicraft, or the arts; cf. Arvieux, Sitten der Beduinen-Araber , 5f.)
but ye are to dwell in tents all your life, that ye may live long, etc. This promise is an imitation of that found in Exodus 20:12.
Jeremiah 35:8-11
This command of their forefather they observe in all points, and therefore dwell in tents; and only because of Nebuchadnezzar's arrival in the country have they come to Jerusalem, in order to find refuge for a time from the army of the Chaldeans and that of Aram (the Arameans). The special mention of the army of Aram in connection with that of the Chaldeans is perhaps due to the frequent predatory incursions made, at an earlier period, on Israel and Judah by the Syrians. According to 2 Kings 24:2, after Jehoiakim had rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, hostile bands of Arameans invaded Judah for the purpose of laying waste the country.
The example of the Rechabites is one for Judah . - Jeremiah is to proclaim the word of the Lord to the people of Judah, as follows: Jeremiah 35:13. "Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction by listening to my words? saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 35:14. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, who commanded this sons not to drink wine, are performed, and they have drunk no wine to this day, but have obeyed the command of their father. But I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking, yet ye have not listened unto me. Jeremiah 35:15. And I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Turn ye, now, every one from his evil way, and do good deeds, and do not go after other gods, to serve them; then shall ye dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But ye did not incline your ear, nor hearken unto me. Jeremiah 35:16. Yea, the children of Jonadab the son of Rechab have observed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, while this people have not hearkened unto me. Jeremiah 35:17. Therefore, thus saith Jahveh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil which I have uttered regarding them, because I spake unto them and they did not hear, and I called unto them, but they did not answer. Jeremiah 35:18. And to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said: Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, Because ye have listened to the command of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his commandments, and have done according to all that he commanded you, Jeremiah 35:19. Therefore, thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever."