The Rechabites

 

In the days of Jehoiakim, also called Eliakim, the second son of Josiah king of Judah and the eighteenth king of the southern kingdom of Judah, God commanded the prophet Jeremiah to bring “the Rechabites” into one of the chambers of the house of Jehovah and give them wine to drink.

 

Jeremiah 35:1-2 “1The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”

 

According to the word of God, Jeremiah brought in the Rechabites, set them in the chamber, and urged them to drink wine.

 

Jeremiah 35:5-10 “5And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. 6But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons, for ever: 7neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land wherein ye sojourn. 8And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters; 9nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: 10but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.”

 

Concerning “Jonadab,” or “Jehonadab,” the son of Rechab, the ancestor of the Rechabites, he is recorded in 2 Kings 10:15-27. Together with Jehu, the tenth king of the northern kingdom of Israel, he participated in destroying those who belonged to Ahab, the seventh king of the northern kingdom of Israel, thereby helping to fulfill the word God had spoken to Elijah. He also joined Jehu when all the worshippers of Baal were destroyed. Apart from 1 Chronicles 2:55, from which we can know that the Rechabites were of the Kenites, there is no other record in Scripture concerning Jonadab or his descendants, the Rechabites, until they suddenly appear again in Jeremiah 35.

 

Since Jeremiah brought all the house of the Rechabites into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the man of God (Jer. 35:3), we may infer that they were few in number. And through what they said to Jeremiah, we can also know what commands their ancestor Jonadab had given to his descendants. They were never to drink wine, never to sow seed or plant vineyards, never to build houses throughout their lives, and to dwell only in tents.

 

Nevertheless, God had Jeremiah give them wine to drink. And the Rechabites, even though it was the prophet Jeremiah who urged them, did not drink wine, just as they had kept their custom until that day. And God praised them for this. In other words, God knew that they would not drink wine, yet He still had wine set before them. The reason was that, through their obedience to the command of their ancestor Jonadab from generation to generation, God intended to rebuke the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

 

Jeremiah 35:14 “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and unto this day they drink none; for they obey their father’s commandment: but I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking; and ye have not hearkened unto me.”

 

In the same way, Jesus rebuked those who would not listen to His words, and those who heard but did not repent, by comparing them with the men of Nineveh, who repented at the preaching of Jonah, and with the queen of the south, the queen of Sheba, who came from afar to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

 

Matthew 12:41-42 “41The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. 42The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

 

That is right. Because people do not listen to the words of Jesus, they come to be condemned, that is, judged. This is because God is angry with those who do not delight in listening to His word.

 

Jeremiah 6:10-11 “10To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah is become unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.”

 

People do not listen to the word of God because of their own thoughts, and because of this, they suffer calamity from God.

 

Jeremiah 6:16-19 “16Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein. 17And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not hearken. 18Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.”

 

Therefore, the prophet Isaiah told the children of Israel to forsake their unrighteous thoughts and return to God.

 

Isaiah 55:7-9 “7let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

That is right. God’s thoughts are different from our thoughts, and God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Therefore, we must cast down every reasoning and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into obedience to Jesus.

 

2 Corinthians 10:5-6 “5casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; 6and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full.”

 

Truly, when calamity or judgment comes upon people, it is because they have not listened to the word of God. God made this clear again through the Rechabites.

 

Jeremiah 35:16-17 “16Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people hath not hearkened unto me; 17therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.”

 

However, for us today, this word rather becomes a word of hope. This is because God’s thoughts toward us are always thoughts of peace and hope for our future, not calamity.

 

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.”

 

Therefore, if a person listens to the command of God like the Rechabites, even all the calamities already proclaimed can be withdrawn (Jonah 3:10), and he may also receive the blessing the Rechabites received.

 

Jeremiah 35:18-19 “18And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith Jehovah 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 commanded you; 19therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.”

 

Exodus 20:6 “and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”

 

Because God’s thoughts toward us are like this, we must now humble ourselves before Jesus in the name of Jesus (James 4:10). Truly, when we humbly listen to the words of Jesus, we will be able to escape calamity and judgment.

 

Proverbs 1:32-33 “32For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them. 33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.”

 

Also, when the dead hear the voice of Jesus, they can live again.

 

John 5:25 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.”

 

Therefore, even though the world today may be a time when people only want to hear what they themselves desire to hear,

 

2 Timothy 4:3-4 “3For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; 4and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.”

 

we must all become “blessed people” who delight only in hearing the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8), that is, the words of Jesus. Then, regardless of number, we ourselves are “the Rechabites.”

 

Psalm 1:1-3 “1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers: 2But his delight is in the law of Jehovah; And on his law doth he meditate day and night. 3And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, That bringeth forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also doth not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

 

Amen.