Jeremiah 35:16
Ver. 16. Because the son of Jonadab the son of Rechab,.... Here we have the contrast between the Rechabites and the Israelites; the obedience of the one, and the disobedience of the other; the design of which is to aggravate and expose the sin of the Jews, since the former
have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; that particular commandment of not drinking wine, which they had never once violated in such a course of time; nor could they now be prevailed upon, even by the prophet himself, to do it:but this people hath not hearkened unto me; the Lord their God, their father that bought them, made them, and established them. Gross ingratitude! De 32:6. Jeremiah 35:17Ver. 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,.... Provoked by such ill usage:behold, I will bring upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil that I have pronounced against them: which Abarbinel interprets of all the threatenings and curses in the law and the prophets respecting the Jews, until the times of Jeremiah; though it may more especially intend the evil, God by him had pronounced upon them; namely, that the Chaldean army should come into their land, besiege Jerusalem, and take it, and carry captive its inhabitants:because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered; he spoke to them by his prophets, he called to them in his providences, and took every method to warn them of their sin and danger, and bring them to repentance and reformation; but all to no purpose. The Targum is,"because I sent unto them all my servants the prophets, but they obeyed not; and they prophesied to them, but they returned not.'' Jeremiah 35:18Ver. 18. 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. Jeremiah 35:19Ver. 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... Who has enjoined children obedience to their parents, and has promised to reward it, and does:Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever; which may be understood of a long time, of ages to come; or as long as the people of the Jews were a people, or the world should stand, the posterity of this man should continue: or, "a man shall not be cut off from Jonadab &c." {h}; his offspring shall never fail. It is certain that some of this family returned from the captivity, 1Ch 2:55; and, according to Scaliger {i}, the Hasidaeans sprung from them. And, if any credit could be given to Benjamin Tudelensis, there were Rechabites in the twelfth century, since the times of Christ; for he tells {k} us, that in his travels he found a place where Jews dwelt, who were called Rechabites. The phrase, "to stand before me", is by the Targum paraphrased,"ministering before me;''serving and worshipping God, for they were religious people; that is, in their own families, carrying on religious worship among themselves, and not in the temple, where they had no office, and did no service; though some think they had, because called scribes, 1Ch 2:55. Kimchi says that some of their Rabbins asserted that the daughters of these people married priests, and so some of their children's children offered sacrifice on the altar. And if what Eusebius reports from Hegesippus is true, there were priests of this family after the times of Christ; for he says {l}, that when the Jews were stoning James the just, a priest of the sons of Rechab cried out, saying, stop, what are ye doing? but these testimonies are not to be depended on; however, we may be sure of this, that the promise of God shall not fail, but be certainly accomplished. Very appropriate are the words of the learned Alting {m} upon this subject:"not only the Lord promises length of life to the obedient, which proselytes, equally with Israelites, have the promise of; but, particularly, that the posterity of Jonadab should not perish, should have a place in the church of God, and an admission to the gracious enjoyment of God; not as priests and Levites, but as other Israelites and strangers, Isa 56:4; so that the posterity of Jonadab must still continue, and hope of restoration of them with the Israelites remains; as in Jer 31:36; but in the same way and manner; so that being equally sharers in exile, they are to be restored after a long interruption. Indeed, the family is not at this day known; but from the ignorance of men, to the denial of a thing, there is no available argument. Families cannot be confounded, since they descend by the fathers; mothers do not belong to them; and as is the father as to tribe, so also is the son and grandson, and so on. A genealogical series may perish from the knowledge of men, but not from the nature of things, and the knowledge of God. Though the seeds of wheat, barley, and other things, may be mixed together, that men cannot distinguish them, yet their distinction does not perish; and God not only knows it, but also discovers it, when he makes every seed to rise in its own body, 1Co 15:37; so must we judge concerning families.''Perhaps, since these Rechabites were proselytes, and not Israelites, the conversion of the Gentiles may be respected; who are priests in a spiritual sense, and minister before the Lord, offering up, through Christ, the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise; and such a generation to serve the Lord will never be wanting.{h} bdnwyl vya trky al "non exidetur vir Jonadabo", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt, &c. {i} Elench. Trihaeres. c. 24, {k} Itinerarium, p. 82. {l} Eccles. Hist. l. 2. c. 23. {m} Apud Witsii Exercitat. 9. de Rechabitis in Miscell. Sacr. tom. 2. p. 235, 236.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.