seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Jeremiah 35:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2 “Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.”
3 So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites. 4 I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. 5 Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”
6 But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab[a] son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. 7 Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’ 8 We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine 9 or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. 10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. 11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian[b] and Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 13 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the Lord. 14 ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. 15 Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me. 16 The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’
17 “Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’”
18 Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ 19 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’”
a. Jeremiah 35:6 Hebrew Jonadab, a variant of Jehonadab; here and often in this chapter
b. Jeremiah 35:11 Or Chaldean
The Rekabites proved that humans are capable of listening to commands. The Rekabites provd that humans are capable of obeying commands.
This is from bible-studys.org.
The pledge of the “Rechabites” was probably instituted by their ancestor “Jonadab”, who wanted to keep the clan pure from corruption when Jehu was purging Baal worship from Israel (2 Kings 10:15-23). If the Rechabites were this observant of the instructions of their forefather, then Judah should have obeyed the Word of God all the more.
The Rechabites had no problem keeping the commandments of their earthly father, but the Israelites would not keep the commandments of their heavenly Father. The Rechabites made these Israelites look bad because Israel was not keeping God's commandments. The Rechabites were not constantly being warned by prophets to repent. They just lived the holy life from the beginning. The Israelites had been warned over and over by prophets that God sent to repent and live for God.
“Because ye have obeyed”: God will bless the Rechabites not in spiritually saving them all, but in preserving a posterity in which some can have a place in His service. A Rechabite still has a role (in Neh. 3:14); also, the title over Psalm 71 in the LXX (Greek translation of the Old Testament), was addressed for use by the sons of Jonadab and the earliest captives.
So it is possible for humans to obey commands. They just have to want to do it. No wonder God let the Babylonians rape, castrate, murder and/or enslave the descendants of Jacob [Israel]. They were like spoiled rotten kids.... who want everything but don't want to follow our rules or share. The Rekabites.... for some reason [probably the fact they wouldn't drink wine].... they remind me of Mormons.This is from the easy English site.
That incident happened towards the end of Jehoiakim's rule as king. Nebuchadnezzar had sent into Judah armies of people whom he ruled. He wanted them to be a nuisance to Judah (2 Kings 24:1-2). The Rechabite family were part of the Kenite tribe (1 Chronicles 2:55). Jonadab had helped Jehu to destroy Ahab's family. He had joined in when they killed the Baal worshippers (2 Kings 10:15-17; 23-25). Probably the Rechabite family moved into Judah from the northern*kingdom. That happened after Assyria defeated Israel in 722 BC. Jonadab believed that the Israelites had changed their behaviour. They had lived in tents. And they had wandered with their sheep in the desert. When they entered the country called Canaan, they lived in houses. Then they copied the behaviour of the people in Canaan.
The people in Canaan believed that Baal made their crops grow. They drank much wine when they worshipped Baal. So Jonadab ordered his family and his descendants to live in tents. They had to wander as they looked after their sheep. They never drank wine. The Nazarites made a similar promise not to drink wine (Numbers 6:1-4).
Jeremiah arranged everything in a way that made the occasion important. That would tempt the Rechabite people not to obey their promise to their ancestor Jonadab. Jeremiah brought the whole family into the Temple. Jaanaziah was their leader. (His father, Jeremiah, was not the same as Jeremiah the prophet.) Jeremiah took the Rechabite people into a room where people stored goods. The room belonged to the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah. 'Man of God' is what they used to call the prophets, like Elijah (1 Kings 17:24) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:9, 16-27).
In the 19th century in England, some people were very worried that people drank too much wine. It caused many social problems. So the people began a Society. It encouraged people not to drink wine. The people in the Society called themselves ‘Rechabites’.
So.... the Rekabites had a theory. As soon as the descendants of Jacob [Israel] moved into homes and planted crops.... they started to stray from their commitment to God..... who by the way was the ruler of their Theocracy. They wanted to be like everyone around them. They remind me of that kid on the tv show commercial that says "I want to be like those idiots so bad!".