Jer 35.1-19 tells us about the disobedience of Judah contrasted with the obedience of the Rechabites to their father. Judah will be threatened with judgments, and the Rechabites with a blessing from Yehovah.
v 1…The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Yehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
v 2…”Go tell the house (tribe) of the Rechabites (they accepted Yehovah as the one true God and their roots go back to Jethro the Kenite, and they came into Canaan with Joshua and Israel. They lived in the south and in tents, and were very zealous for Yehovah), and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Yehovah (Temple), into one of the chambers (around the Temple courts), and give them wine to drink.”
v 3…Then I took Yaazaniah (“may Yehovah hear” and leader of the clan) the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah (“light of Yehovah”), and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites,
v 4…And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan (a prophet who had this chamber); the son of Igdaliah (Yehovah is great), the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials (where princes and rulers assembled), which was above the chamber of Maaseiah (work of Yehovah) the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper (the chief officer of the Temple guard of that section).
v 5…Then I set before the men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine!”
v 6…But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Yonadav (2 Kings 10.15) the son of Rechab (1 Chr 2.55) our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever.
v 7…And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in tents you shall dwell all your days (a nomadic life) that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’
v 8…And we have obeyed the voice of Yonadav the son of Rechab our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters (their obedience was not confined to just the men),
v 9…nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we do not have vineyard or field or seed.
v 10… We have only dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and have done according to all the Yonadav our father commanded us.
v 11…But it came about, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land (to invade in the fourth year of Yehoiakim) that we said, ‘Come and let us go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Syrians (his army had Syrians also-2 Kings 24.2).’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem (for now, because it was necessary to preserve life).”
v 12…Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
v 13…”Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive instruction by listening to my words (like the sons of Rechab listen to their father)?” declares the Lord.
v 14…The words of Yonadav the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are observed. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again (meaning “rising early”); yet you have not listened to me.
v 15…Also I have sent to you my servants the prophets, sending them again and again (rising early), saying, ‘Turn now every man from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to worship them, then you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not inclined your ear or listened to me (in the Torah).
v 16…Indeed, the sons of Yonadav the son of Rechab have observed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people have not listened to me (many times).’
v 17…Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts (armies), the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer (he did this through the Torah and the prophets).'”
v 18…Then Jeremiah said to the house (clan) of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have obeyed the command of Yonadav your father, kept all his commands, and done according to all that he commanded you;
v 19…therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Yonadav the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before me always (“kol yamim” or all the days; they were to continue in service to Yehovah. Some returned after the captivity in 1 Chr 2.55 and some have said that there were Rechabites in the twelfth century AD according to Benjamin Tudelensis).”
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