Commentary - Jeremiah 35:1-11

Bird's-eye view

In this remarkable chapter, the Lord directs Jeremiah to conduct a live-action parable, a prophetic test case involving a peculiar clan called the Rechabites. This is not a lecture from a podium; it is God setting up a dramatic contrast on the stage of history. He commands Jeremiah to bring this nomadic family into the very house of the Lord and offer them wine. Their steadfast refusal, based on a centuries-old command from their forefather Jonadab, becomes a searing indictment of Judah's persistent and flagrant disobedience to their Heavenly Father. The central point is a stark, simple, and devastating comparison: these men are faithful to the word of a long-dead human father, while the covenant people of God have utterly despised the living words of the Almighty. The passage is a master class in covenant faithfulness and a solemn exposé of covenant rebellion, all set against the backdrop of Jerusalem's impending doom.

The faithfulness of the Rechabites is not presented as the means of their salvation, but rather as a living testimony against a generation that had none. They honored their father's word, and God honored their honor. Judah, in contrast, had dishonored their Father's covenant, and so God was bringing upon them the covenant curses they had so richly earned. This is a story about the power of a paternal word and the tragedy of a nation that refused to listen to the ultimate paternal Word.

Outline

Context In Jeremiah

This episode is set "in the days of Jehoiakim," a wicked king who reigned during the final, turbulent years of Judah. This was a time of gross idolatry, political rebellion against Babylon, and a wholesale rejection of Jeremiah's prophetic ministry. Jehoiakim is the same king who, in the very next chapter, will take Jeremiah's written scroll of prophecy, cut it up with a penknife, and burn it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:23). It is in this atmosphere of high-handed, contemptuous rebellion against God's Word that the story of the Rechabites is placed. Their quiet, unshakeable fidelity to their ancestor's word provides the sharpest possible contrast to the king's and the nation's infidelity. God is rubbing Judah's nose in an example of the very thing they lack: simple, honorable obedience.

Key Issues

A Father's Word

At the heart of this story is the power of a father's word. Jonadab, the son of Rechab, had laid down a rule for his descendants hundreds of years before this event. He was a zealous man who had stood with Jehu against the prophets of Baal (2 Kings 10:15-23), and he clearly wanted his family to maintain a distinct, separated, and disciplined way of life. The commands were ascetic: no wine, no houses, no farms, no vineyards. They were to be perpetual nomads. Now, the Bible does not command this lifestyle for all believers. This was a particular family vow, a unique calling. But the principle God holds up for our admiration is not the content of the vow, but the character of the obedience. The Rechabites simply did what their father told them to do. For generations, they had honored his word. This is the fifth commandment in living color. A society that has forgotten how to honor fathers will soon find it has forgotten how to honor God the Father. The breakdown of the family and the breakdown of the nation are not two separate problems; they are the same problem manifesting in different spheres.

Verse by Verse Commentary

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

The whole affair is initiated by God. This is not Jeremiah's idea. The timing is specified, during the reign of the wicked king Jehoiakim, which provides the dark backdrop for the lesson. God instructs His prophet to perform what appears to be a strange task: take this particular family, bring them into the temple itself, and serve them wine. The location is significant. This is not a private test in an alleyway. By bringing them into one of the temple chambers, God is making this an official, public demonstration before His own face and in His own house.

3-4 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites, and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was beside the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper.

Jeremiah obeys without question. He gathers the entire clan, from the leaders down to "all his sons." The detailed description of the location, naming the specific chamber and its relation to the rooms of other important officials, grounds this event in real history. This happened in a particular place at a particular time. This was a high-traffic area, "beside the chamber of the officials." God wanted this object lesson to be seen and known. He is setting the stage for a public verdict.

5 Then I put before the men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine!”

The test is simple and direct. Jeremiah doesn't just offer a small glass; he sets out "pitchers full of wine and cups." It is an abundant and clear invitation. The command is unambiguous: "Drink wine!" From the Rechabites' perspective, this must have been a perplexing situation. Here is a prophet of Yahweh, in the house of Yahweh, telling them to do the one thing their founding father commanded them never to do. This is a test of their ultimate loyalties.

6-7 But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but tents you shall inhabit all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’

Their refusal is immediate, corporate, and resolute: "We will not drink wine." They don't debate it. They don't form a committee. They simply state their reason. Their obedience is rooted in the command of their father, Jonadab. They quote his instructions in detail, showing that this was not some vague tradition but a well-remembered and foundational law for their family. The purpose of the command was also remembered: "that you may live many days in the land." Their father's law was given for their good, for their preservation, and they believed it.

8-10 So we have listened to the voice of Jonadab 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, nor to build ourselves houses to inhabit; and we do not have vineyard or field or seed. We have only inhabited tents and have listened and have done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

This is their testimony, and it is a stunning declaration of comprehensive obedience. "We have listened... we have done." Notice the totality of it: "in all that he commanded us," "all our days," involving their entire families, "we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters." This was not a selective, convenient obedience. It was a complete submission to their father's authority that defined their entire way of life. This is the kind of faithfulness that builds strong families and, by extension, strong nations. It is the very thing that was entirely absent in Judah's relationship with God.

11 But it happened that when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us come to Jerusalem before the military force of the Chaldeans and before the military force of the Arameans.’ So we have inhabited Jerusalem.”

Here they explain why they, a nomadic people, are currently inside the walls of Jerusalem. They are not hypocrites. They are not abandoning their principles. They are acting prudently in a time of war. An invading army makes life in tents in the open country impossible. They came to Jerusalem for refuge, not out of a desire to settle down and build houses. This little detail shows that their obedience was not a blind, foolish legalism. It was a principled faithfulness that could be applied with wisdom to changing circumstances. They were faithful, not stupid.

Application

The lesson of the Rechabites cuts us to the quick. God holds up this pagan clan's faithfulness to their earthly father as an indictment against His own people's faithlessness to their Heavenly Father. The application for us is straightforward. Do we display this kind of stubborn, multi-generational, principled obedience to the clear commands of our God? Or are we more like Judah, constantly looking for loopholes, excuses, and compromises?

The Rechabites honored their father's word. We have been given a Word from our Father in heaven, a Word that is perfect, holy, and true. We have been given it not just in stone tablets or prophetic scrolls, but in the person of the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Rechabites were so diligent to obey the commands of a man, how much more should we be diligent to obey the Son of God? Their obedience was a matter of family honor. Our obedience is a matter of loving the One who bought us with His own blood.

This passage also speaks powerfully to the importance of the family and the duty of fathers. Jonadab set a vision for his family that lasted for centuries. Fathers, we are called to do the same. We are to establish a culture in our homes, based on the Word of God, that we expect to be passed down "to a thousand generations." Our commands are not arbitrary like Jonadab's, but are to be applications of God's perfect law. But the principle of honor remains. Let us be the kind of fathers whose word is honored, and let us raise up children who understand the beautiful and life-giving nature of faithful obedience.