Jeremiah 35:18

And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father.—The words decide nothing as to the obligation of the commandment referred to upon others. The law which Jeremiah received as given by God laid down no such rule of life. A righteous life was possible without it (Jeremiah 22:15; Matthew 11:19). What he was taught to praise was the steadfastness and loyalty with which they adhered to a merely human precept, not at variance with the letter of any divine law, and designed, like the Nazarite vow, to carry the spirit of that law—the idea of a life-long consecration—to its highest point. The temper of faithfulness to any rule of life sanctioned by prescription, whether it be that of a school, a college, a guild, or a religious order, is in itself praiseworthy as compared with that of individual self-assertion and self-will.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 35:18-19. Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, &c. — Mercy is here promised to the family of the Rechabites for their steady and unanimous adherence to the laws of their house. Though it was only for the shaming of Israel that their constancy was tried, yet, being unshaken, God takes occasion from it to tell them that he had blessings in reserve for them. Jonadab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever — “The meaning of this promise,” says Blaney, “in its full extent, seems to be, not only that the race of Jonadab should never fail or be extinct, but that some of the family should ever be found among the worshippers of the true God. For to stand in the presence of a prince, implies an attendance, in some degree, upon his person and service. So the queen of Sheba, speaking of Solomon’s court, says, Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, 1 Kings 10:8; and therefore, to stand before God, must denote at least the privilege of treading his courts, and of worshipping him among the train of his chosen servants and people.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

35:12-19 The trial of the Rechabites' constancy was for a sign; it made the disobedience of the Jews to God the more marked. The Rechabites were obedient to one who was but a man like themselves, and Jonadab never did for his seed what God has done for his people. Mercy is promised to the Rechabites. We are not told respecting the performance of this promise; but doubtless it was performed, and travellers say the Rechabites may be found a separate people to this day. Let us follow the counsels of our pious forefathers, and we shall find good in so doing.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

All ... the prophets - The Rechabites had had but one lawgiver: the Jews had had a succession of messengers from God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. because I have spoken … not heard … I … called … not answered—(Pr 1:24; Isa 65:12).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites,.... To the family of them, to those that were with him in the temple, and while they were there; and what he said to them, which is as follows, was by the order and direction of the Lord:

thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; he uses the same titles, when speaking to them, as to the Jews, expressive of his sovereignty, power, and grace:

because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father; that particular command concerning not drinking wine:

and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he hath commanded you; all the rest, as well as that; though they were many, they took notice of them, and observed them; they kept them in their minds and memory, and made them the rule of their actions, and conformed to them in all respects.

Geneva Study Bible

And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. And Jeremiah said … Rechabites] The LXX, doubtless rightly, omit these words (see on Jeremiah 35:12), and seem to have preserved the original form, “Therefore thus saith the Lord, Inasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have obeyed the commandment of their father to do as their father commanded them,” while the MT. has been compelled by the insertion to change the 3rd person into the 2nd.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 18, 19. - A promise to the Rechabites (perhaps removed from its original connection). The form of the promise is remarkable; it runs, Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever. The phrase is, as Dr. Plumptre remarks, "all but essentially liturgical. It is used of the Levites (Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 18:5, 7), of the worship of the patriarchs (Genesis 19:27), of the priests (1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chronicles 29:11; Nehemiah 7:65), of prophets (1 Kings 18:15), of priests and Levites together (Psalm 134:1; Psalm 135:2)." It is, however, rash, perhaps, to maintain, with the same acute scholar, that the Rechabites were adopted into the tribe of Levi. The phrase may be simply chosen to indicate the singular favour with which Jehovah regarded the Rechabites - a favour only to be compared to that accorded to his most honoured servants among the Israelites - the patriarchs, the priests, and the prophets.



Jeremiah 35:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The declaration concerning the Rechabites is introduced by the formula, "And to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said;" thereby, too, it is shown that the statement does not form an integral portion of the preceding address, but was uttered by Jeremiah perhaps at the close of his transactions with them (Jeremiah 35:11). But it is not given till now, in order to signify to the people of Judah that even fidelity to paternal commands has its own rewards, to make the threat uttered against Judah all the more impressive. On the promise Jeremiah 35:19, cf. Jeremiah 33:18. Since עמד denotes the standing of a servant before his master, and in Jeremiah 7:10 is used of the appearance of the people before the Lord in the temple, עמד לפני seems here also to express not merely the permanence of the family, but in addition, their continuance in the service of the Lord, without, of course, involving sacerdotal service; cf. on the other hand, Jeremiah 33:18, where this service is more exactly described. The acknowledgment of the Lord on the part of the Rechabites is a necessary result of their connection with Israel.

(Note: According to the account of the Jewish missionary Wolff, there are still some Rechabites in Asia, in Mesopotamia and Yemen, who affirm that they are descended from Hobab the brother-in-law [A.V. "father-in-law;" but see Smith's Bible Dictionary, vol. i. Hobab] of Moses. Wolff points out that part of the desert of Yemen near Senaa as the special locality where these Rechabites live. Cf. Dr. Joseph Wolff, ein Wanderleben, von Dr. Sengelmann, Hamburg 1863, S. 65 u 196.)