Jeremiah 35:6
in Jeremiah 35“We do not drink wine,” they replied, “for our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us, ‘Neither you nor your descendants are ever to drink wine.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But 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:
KJV
But 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:
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This verse in Jeremiah 35
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe sons of Jonadab, we are told, drank neither wine nor strong drink and dwelled in tents pitched wherever night overtook them. According to the Psalter, they were the first to undergo captivity; for, when the Chaldaeans began to ravage Judah, they were compelled to take refuge in cities.Others may think what they like and follow each his own bent. But to me a town is a prison and solitude paradise. Why do we long for the bustle of cities, we whose very name speaks of loneliness?
This site's exposition
We will drink no wine
on Jeremiah 35:6-12
The Rechabites answer with their whole history: Jonadab the son of Rechab, the ally who rode with Jehu against Baal two centuries earlier, bound his sons to a permanent discipline, no wine, no houses, no fields, a tent-dwelling life kept so they would remain strangers in the land. They report keeping it whole, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters, for as long as the command has stood, and explain their presence in Jerusalem as a wartime exception forced by the Chaldean and Syrian armies rather than a change of heart. Gill and Clarke both read the clan's fidelity across two centuries as the whole force of the object lesson, an ancestral rule about wine kept perfectly against a covenant with the living God kept hardly at all.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Two things are worth marveling at: the law given by the father and the obedience rendered by the children and descendants. For they loved a life free from care and possessions and—what is most unexpected—put little stock in their property, even though they had children, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Commands of that nature are to be understood with such limitations. These Rechabites would have tempted God, and not trusted him, if they had not used proper means for their own safety in a time of common calamity, notwithstanding the law and custom of their family.
But they said, we will drink no wine,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
We will drink no wine - The reason is given above. Their whole religious and political institution consisted in obedience to three simple precepts, each of which has an appropriate spiritual meaning: - 1. Ye shall drink no wine - Ye shall preserve your bodies in temperance, shall use nothing that would deprive you of the exercise of your sober reason at any time; lest in such a time ye should do what might be prejudicial to yourselves, injurious to your neighbor, or dishonorable to your God.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This case affords no justification for slavish deference to the religious opinions of the Christian fathers: for Jonadab's injunction only affected matters of the present life; moreover, it was not binding on their consciences, for they deemed it not unlawful to go to Jerusalem in the invasion (Jer 35:11).
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wine is the symbol of a settled life, because the vine requires time for its growth and care in its cultivation, while the preparation of the wine itself requires buildings, and it then has to be stored up before it is ready for use. The drink of nomads consists of the milk of their herds. Jer 35:7 Strangers - Because not of Jewish blood, though wandering in their territory.
The words behind it
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נִשְׁתֶּה־ | nishteh- | we drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| יָּ֑יִן | yayin | wine | H3196 → | 141 times |
| כִּי֩ | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יוֹנָדָ֨ב | yonadav | Jonadab | H3122 → | 7 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | [the] son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| רֵכָ֜ב | rekhav | Rechab | H7394 → | 13 times |
| אָבִ֗ינוּ | ʾavinu | ancestor our | H1 → | 1212 times |
| צִוָּ֤ה | tzivah | he commanded | H6680 → | 494 times |
| עָלֵ֙ינוּ֙ | ʾaleinu | to us | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| לֵאמֹ֔ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹ֧א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִשְׁתּוּ־ | tishtu- | you must drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| יַ֛יִן | yayin | wine | H3196 → | 141 times |
| אַתֶּ֥ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| וּבְנֵיכֶ֖ם | uveneikhem | and children your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| עוֹלָֽם׃ | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
וַיֹּאמְר֖וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
נִשְׁתֶּה־we drink
nishteh-H8354 →217 times
יָּ֑יִןwine
yayinH3196 →141 times
כִּי֩for
kiH3588 →4482 times
יוֹנָדָ֨בJonadab
yonadavH3122 →7 times
בֶּן־[the] son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
רֵכָ֜בRechab
rekhavH7394 →13 times
אָבִ֗ינוּancestor our
ʾavinuH1 →1212 times
צִוָּ֤הhe commanded
tzivahH6680 →494 times
עָלֵ֙ינוּ֙to us
ʾaleinuH5921 →5755 times
לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
לֹ֧אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִשְׁתּוּ־you must drink
tishtu-H8354 →217 times
יַ֛יִןwine
yayinH3196 →141 times
אַתֶּ֥םyou
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
וּבְנֵיכֶ֖םand children your
uveneikhemH1121 →4930 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
עוֹלָֽם׃perpetuity
olamH5769 →438 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
Luke 1:15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
it leads to
- Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- Numbers 6:2–4
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,
- Luke 7:33
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’
- Galatians 1:15
But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased
- Ephesians 5:18
Through
Leviticus 10:9“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute for the generations to come.
it leads to
- Luke 1:15
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
- 1 Timothy 3:3
not dependent on wine, not violent but gentle, peaceable, and free of the love of money.
- Isaiah 28:7
These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling…
- Luke 1:15
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; Jerome, LETTER 125.7-8; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, ON JEREMIAH 7:35.6-7.