Jeremiah 35:2
in Jeremiah 35“Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them to one of the chambers of the house of the LORD to offer them a drink of wine.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Go 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.
KJV
Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.
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This verse in Jeremiah 35
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThe house of the Rechabites - The Rechabites were not descendants of Jacob; they were Kenites, 1Ch 2:55, a people originally settled in that part of Arabia Petroea, called the land of Midian; and most probably the descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Compare Num 10:29-32, with Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:
This site's exposition
in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah
on Jeremiah 35:1-5
The scene is staged rather than accidental: Jeremiah brings the whole Rechabite clan into a chamber of the Lord's house and sets full cups before them, an experiment conducted in public to make a point Judah could see with its own eyes. The chapter's date, the days of Jehoiakim, places the episode earlier than the Zedekiah oracles that surround it in the book, a reminder the commentators give that Jeremiah is arranged by theme more than by strict order. The stage is set for a contrast Jeremiah did not need to explain, obedience offered wine it will refuse against a nation offered wine it will not refuse and everything else besides.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
"No, we will drink no wine; for with us it is against the law." The prophet knew very well they would deny it, and, when they did, urged it no further, for he saw they were stedfastly resolved. Note, Those temptations are of no force with men of confirmed sobriety which yet daily overcome such as, notwithstanding their convictions, are of no resolution in the paths of virtue.
Rechabites - These Rechabites had their name from Rechab their father, descended from Hemath, a Kenite, who is also called Hobab, Judg. iv, 11, or Jethro the father in law of Moses.
Go unto the house of the Rechabites,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Besides the branch of them associated with Judah and extending to Amalek, there was another section at Kadesh, in Naphtali (Jud 4:11, 17). They seem to have been proselytes of the gate, Jonadab, son of Rechab, whose charge not to drink wine they so strictly obeyed, was zealous for God (2Ki 10:15-23).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The house - The family. The Rechabites - The Rechabites were a nomadic tribe not of Jewish but of Kenite race, and connected with the Amalekites Num 24:21; 1Sa 15:6, from whom however they had separated themselves, and made a close alliance with the tribe of Judah Jdg 1:16, on whose southern borders they took up their dwelling 1Sa 27:10. While, however, the main body of the Kenites gradually adopted settled habits, and dwelt in cities 1Sa 30:29, the Rechabites persisted in leading the free desert life, and in this determination they were finally confirmed by the influence and authority of Jonadab, who lived in Jehu’s reign. He was a zealous adherent of Yahweh 2Ki 10:15-17, and possibly a religious reformer; and as the names of the men mentioned in the present narrative are all compounded with Yah, it is plain that the tribe continued their allegiance to Him. The object of Jonadab in endeavoring to preserve the nomad habits of his race was probably twofold. He wished first to maintain among them the purer morality and higher feeling of the desert contrasted with the laxity and effeminacy of the city life; and secondly he was anxious for the preservation of their freedom. Their punctilious obedience Jer 35:14 to Jonadab’s precepts is employed by Jeremiah to point a useful lesson for his own people. The date of the prophecy is the interval between the battle of Carchemish and the appearance of Nebuchadnezzar at Jerusalem, Jer 35:11 at the end of the same year. It is consequently 17 years earlier than the narrative in Jer 34:8 ff
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
to the house of the Rechabites The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab, and they were of the sons of Jethro.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָלוֹךְ֮ | halokh | go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| הָרֵכָבִים֒ | harekhavim | the Rechabites | H7397 → | 5 times |
| וְדִבַּרְתָּ֣ | vedibarta | and you will speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אוֹתָ֔ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וַהֲבִֽאוֹתָם֙ | vahaviotam | and you will bring them | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַחַ֖ת | ʾachat | one of | H259 → | 971 times |
| הַלְּשָׁכ֑וֹת | haleshakhot | the rooms | H3957 → | 47 times |
| וְהִשְׁקִיתָ֥ | vehishkita | and you will give to drink | H8248 → | 61 times |
| אוֹתָ֖ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יָֽיִן׃ | yayin | wine | H3196 → | 141 times |
הָלוֹךְ֮go
halokhH1980 →1546 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
הָרֵכָבִים֒the Rechabites
harekhavimH7397 →5 times
וְדִבַּרְתָּ֣and you will speak
vedibartaH1696 →1141 times
אוֹתָ֔ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
וַהֲבִֽאוֹתָם֙and you will bring them
vahaviotamH935 →2568 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אַחַ֖תone of
ʾachatH259 →971 times
הַלְּשָׁכ֑וֹתthe rooms
haleshakhotH3957 →47 times
וְהִשְׁקִיתָ֥and you will give to drink
vehishkitaH8248 →61 times
אוֹתָ֖ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
יָֽיִן׃wine
yayinH3196 →141 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Chronicles 2:55Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, half the Manahathites, the Zorites, and the clans of the scribes who lived at Jabez—the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of…
it leads to
- Judges 1:16
Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live…
- 2 Kings 10:15
When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?”…
- Judges 4:11
Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
- Jeremiah 35:2–8
“Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them to one of the chambers of the house of the LORD to offer them a drink of wine.”
- Jeremiah 35:19
this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Jonadab son of Rechab will never fail to have a man to stand before Me.’”
- Judges 1:16
Through
1 Chronicles 9:26But the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the rooms and the treasuries of the house of God.
it leads to
- 1 Chronicles 26:20–27
Now their fellow Levites were in charge of the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated things.
- 2 Chronicles 31:5–12
As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an…
- Nehemiah 13:5
and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites,…
- 1 Chronicles 26:20–27
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.