The Recabites
The book jumps back over ten years to the reign of King Jehoiakim. The Lord sends Jeremiah to meet with the Recabites. Their ancestor Jonadab son of Recab commanded his sons and their descendants to not drink wine and to not live in houses or plant vineyards. Essentially they were to always live as nomads.
Jonadab also shows up in 2 Kings 10:15-23 where he encounters Jehu as he becomes king and works to root out Baal worship from Israel. This means that his descendants have been following his commands for over 250 years!
God rewards the Recabites. They “will never fail to have a man to stand before me” (Jeremiah 35:19). The NIV translates the gist with the idea of serving the Lord. There’s a tradition that some of their daughters married into the priesthood, which is enabled them to serve the Lord in that way. Theoretically, their descendants should still be around today. There are some who have made this claim.
Surprisingly, their reward wasn’t because of their obedience to God per se, but to the commands of their ancestor Jonadab. What’s more, the Lord never forbid drinking wine, building houses, or planting vineyards. Their submittal to their ancestor is meant to serve as an example to the people of how they should submit to the commands of their Heavenly Father. If only they had followed the example of this odd family.
To Ponder…
- When you feel God calling you to do something, how quick are you to obey?