Jeremiah 35:2

Go unto the house of the Rechabites,.... Or "family" (c); these are the same with the Kenites, who descended from Hobab or Jethro, Moses's father in law, Jude 1:16; these, as their ancestors, became

Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

These Rechabites had their name from Rechab their father, who, as appears from , descended from Hemath, who was a Kenite, who is also called Hobab, (unless it may be Hameth who was the son of Hobab). This Hobab was Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, as appears from . We read, , that his children went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad, and they went and dwelt among the people. The Rechabites here mentioned descended from this stock. Jehonadab, mentioned , was of this family, a man of some note, as appeareth by Jehu’ s taking him there into his chariot. God commandeth the prophet to bring some of this family into the temple, into some of the chambers; for in and about the temple were several chambers for the priests, and where they disposed of the holy garments and several oblations, ,6,10 ,12. God commands Jeremiah to bring these Rechabites into some of these chambers, and to set wine before them. This was either for the more publicness of the thing, or, it may be, for the reproof of the priests who drank too much wine.

Jeremiah 35:2 Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.Ver. 2. Go unto the house of the Rechabites.] So called of one Rechab, the father of, Jonadab, who was famous for his piety in Jehu’ s days, three hundred years at least before this prophecy of Jeremiah. They were of the posterity of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, and lived up and down in the land upon their employments, weaned from the world, and exercising themselves in the law of God. See 1 Chronicles 2:55, where they are called the "families of the scribes that dwelt at Jabez," as being men learned in the laws of God. Of them came the Essenes, a studious and abstemious sect among the Jews; and they might better than those Donatists have taken to themselves the title of Apotactici, so called from their renouncing the world. And give them wine to drink.] Heb., Make them drink wine - i.e., set it before them, and then leave them to their own liberty.

(2) Go unto the house of the Rechabites . . .—The word “house” is used throughout the chapter in the sense of “family.” Among those who had thus taken refuge were the tribe, or sect, or even fraternity known by this name. Their founder was the Jonadab, or Jehonadab, who appears as the ally of Jehu in the overthrow of the house of Ahab (2 Kings 10:15). It is clear from that history that he exercised an influence over the people which Jehu was glad to secure, and that he welcomed “the zeal for the Lord” which led Jehu to the massacre of the worshippers of Baal. He is described as the “son of Rechab,” but seeing that that name, which means “chariot,” was applied to the great Tishbite prophet, as in “the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (2 Kings 2:12), it has been thought, with some probability, that the name “son of Rechab” means “Son of the chariot” (so in later Jewish history we have Bar-cochba = son of the star), i.e., “disciple of the great prophet.” Anyhow, the life which Jonadab enforced on his followers presented all the characteristic features of that of Elijah. It was a protest against the Baal-worship that had flowed into Israel from Phoenicia, against the corruption of the life of cities, against the intemperance which was tainting the life of Israel (Amos 6:4-6). It reminds us in this respect of the more ascetic sects, such as the Wahabees of Arabia in the eighteenth century (see Burckhardt’s Bedouins and Wahabys, p. 283; Palgrave’s Arabia), that have at times arisen among the followers of Mahomet. It has some points of resemblance to the Mendicant Orders of mediaeval Christendom. From 1 Chronicles 2:55 it appears that “the house of Rechab” belonged to the Kenites who had joined the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt, and had settled in their lands, retaining their old habits (Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11; Numbers 10:29-32; 1 Samuel 15:6; 1 Samuel 27:10). Such a people naturally retained many of the habits of patriarchal life, and it is not improbable that Elijah himself issued from their tents.

Verse 2. The house of the Rechabites] The Rechabites were not descendants of Jacob; they were Kenites, 1 Chronicles 2:55, a people originally settled in that part of Arabia Petraea, called the land of Midian; and most probably the descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Compare Numbers 10:29-32, with Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11. Those mentioned here seem to have been a tribe of Nomades or Scenite Arabs, who fed their flocks in the deserts of Judea; they preserved the simple manners of their ancestors, considering the life of the inhabitants of cities and large towns as the death of liberty; believing that they would dishonour themselves by using that sort of food that would oblige them to live a sedentary life. Jonadab, one of their ancestors, had required his children and descendants to abide faithful to the customs of their forefathers; to continue to live in tents, and to nourish themselves on the produce of their flocks; to abstain from the cultivation of the ground, and from that particularly of the vine and its produce. His descendants religiously observed this rule, till the time when the armies of the Chaldeans had entered Judea; when, to preserve their lives, they retired within the walls of Jerusalem. But even there we find, from the account in this chapter, they did not quit their frugal manner of life: but most scrupulously observed the law of Jonadab their ancestor, and probably of this family. When the children of Hobab, or Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, were invited by him to accompany them in their journeying to the Promised Land, it is very likely that they continued their ancient usages, and lived a patriarchal life. Their property, consisting in nothing but their cattle and tents, was easily removable from place to place; and their manner of living was not likely to excite the envy or jealousy of those who had learnt to relish the luxuries of life; and therefore we may naturally conclude that as they were enemies to none, so they had no enemies themselves. Nature has few wants. Most of those which we feel are factitious; and howsoever what we call civilization may furnish us with the conveniences and comforts of life, let us not deceive ourselves by supposing that these very things do not create the very wants which they are called in to supply; and most certainly do not contribute to the comfort of life, when the term of life is considerably abridged by their use. But it is time to return to the case of the Rechabites before us.

2. Go unto the house] The family (so in 3, 5, 18; Genesis 7:1, etc.) are meant, not the dwelling-houses. See Jeremiah 35:7. It was some years after the burning of the Roll (in Jehoiakim’s fourth year), and it appears that the prophet could again appear in public without risk (see Jeremiah 36:19; Jeremiah 36:26). of the Rechabites] They were a wandering tribe of Kenite descent (1 Chronicles 2:55) and thus connected with Moses’ brother-in-law (Judges 1:16). Some of that family had settled in the south of Judah (ib.), others near Kedesh in Naphtali (Judges 4:11). This branch however were nomad.

The house - The family. The Rechabites - The Rechabites were a nomadic tribe not of Jewish but of Kenite race, and connected with the Amalekites Numbers 24:21; 1 Samuel 15:6, from whom however they

2. House of the Rechabites — Their family. By the example of their obedience Jeremiah condemned the disobedience of the Jews. Bring them into the house of the Lord, etc.