II. A MAGNIFIED PERSONAL INFLUENCE. The hold this man obtained over the con- duct of his descendants through so many generations was most remarkable. A man ol marked character, great reputation for sanctity, wisdom, and power of impressing others with his [leculiar views, forms a conception of what life ought to be, especially for those who, like his own family, are strangers living on sufierance in the midst of another people. The Eastern feeling of respect for parents and reverence for ancestors and of I he sacredness of tradition and custom associates itself with his teaching and example, and soon his rule of life becomes a fixed, ineradicable principle amongst his descendants far more potent than any law of the statute-book. This shows : 1. 2%« power oj personal influence. " Influence is the best kind of power." It belongs more or less to all of us ; and we shall be held responsible for its legitimate increase and direction. The influence of any one of us is probably both greater and less than he suspects. It is a natural and proper instinct for man to seek this moral power, and the relations of life afford many opportunities for acquiring and exercising it. Parents. 2. The importance of securing that our influence shall he of the right kind. Ultimate results and effects must be left to God ; but we have to do with our own character and aims, and with the known tendency of the means at our disposal. We should seek that our influence should be of the very highest kind. It is better to discover moral principles and com- municate spiritual inspirations than merely to initiate a custom. Jonadab's influence was on the whole very salutary, but it was not of the highest kind, because he did not furnish his imitators with a morally sufficient motive. So fixed and mechanical, indeed, had their obedience become that they appeared to have more regard to his precept than for the direct command of God (ver. 5). In this respect Jesus Christ is immeasurably his superior. His precepts are self-evident, and commended by his own personal example. He did not appeal to mere self-preservation, but to the noblest moral instincts and principles of our nature. We are not coerced by the personality of Jesus, but persuaded by the sweet leasonableness of his doctrine and Spirit. Influence like this may be slower in making its way, but in the end it is sure to be more lasting and universal — M.
Vers. 18, 19. — The blessing of the Rechabitet, I. What it included. It is very start, ling to find that their blessing is precisely that which is pronounced upon the spiritual Israel of the future. There are two factors in the blessing. 1. Continuity of the family. 2. Perpetuation of its religious standing and moral character: " To stand hefwe me for ever." It is said that descendants of the Bechabites have been discovered in Youcan, and that they still observe the strict regimen of their forefathers.
II. Why it was bestowed. The reason given is simple enough, vii. their filial obedience; but it hardly seems to account for the character of the blessing. It is mani- fest that the bestowal of such a blessing is not to be taken as implying that their con- duct had attained to the highest moral standard. £ut it is signiticant that the fifth
OH. XXXV. 1— !».] THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. »S
commandment, enjoining tliis very duty, should be the first with promise. Why ii emphasis laid upon filial. obedience in the Old and New Testaments ? Is it not because the sentiment of filial affection and respect is a necessary antecedent and preparativ6 for the love of Ood, which is the supreme and univ^sal law of life f Of the latter it is the shadow and type. Secondary occasions for the solemn utterance of the blessing on this occasiou were probably found in (1) the fact that their conduct had furnished a signal reproof of the apostasy of the nation from its true, eternal Father; (2) that they acted up to the light which they had ; and (3) that the principle of filial obedience, and the habits of temperance which in their case it had enjoined, wen thereby more powerfully commended to the observance of men. — M,
Vers. 5, 6. — Fathers of temperanee. " Intertwined with the history of Israel ig that of a wild and independent tribe of Kenites. When the western Israelites abandoned the roving Arab life to settle in the cities of Canaan, the Kenites still retained their pastoral habits. One of the characteristics which we trace in their history was a fierce resent- ment against oppression and idolatry. It was a Kenite woman, Jael, who smote Sisera, even in her own tent. It was a Kenite sheik, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, who washed his fierce hands in the blood of Baal's worshippers and Ahab's bouse (1 Kingi xvi.)." The free and eaccor air of the desert bad ])assed into their lives, and they loved it dearly, and determined never to abandon it, especially when they saw the ruin wrought by the oppression and luxury which were overspreading the inhabitants of the cities they knew most of. Hence the Rechabite vow. But the triumphant march of the vast squadrons of Nebuchadnezzar swept the deserts as well as the cities which lay in his way. And for the time even the hardy Kenites were compelled to set up their tents witliin the walls of Jerusalim. To them God sent Jeremiah, that he might test and behold and then declare their fidelity to their ancient vow. Amid a population given to excess and gluttony, their total abstinence from wine and their temperate habits could not but excite attention, as much as the strange sight of their black tents pitched in the open spaces and squares of the city. Intimation was given to Jeremiah to teach from their obedience a lesson on the disobedience of the people amid whom they were sojourning. " Inviting these rude and faithful Bedouins into a chamber of the temple, he gave them the invitation which the revellers of Jerusalem would only have been too eager to accept, ' Drink ye wine.' But the Rechabites were not to be tempted. They had adopted their law of temperance at the bidding of a mighty ancestor, as a protection against the temptation of cities. They continued it because conscience approved and health rewarded a noble choice. Broken once — even to please a prophet of the Lord — it might be broken again, and soon the glory of their race would have fled. Therefore they at once replied, plainly, even bluntly, 'We will drink no wine; for,' etc" Now, learn from this —