“The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 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. Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door: And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. 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: Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem. Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.” (Jeremiah 35:1-19 KJV)
Of the two kingdoms of Israel divided, the northern kingdom called “Israel” and the southern kingdom called “Judah,” the southern kingdom was the last to apostatize, but it did apostatize. And this is a good example of why. In the next chapter (Jeremiah 36) is an interesting story of not only ignoring the word of God but trying to destroy it.
What is going on in our text?
• God tells the prophet Jeremiah to give wine to the Rechabites. So he tries to do so, but when he offers it to them they refuse.
• The Rechabites were told by their father, Jonadab, that they were never to drink wine, build houses, have vineyards, or plant seed.
• This may seem odd but they were taught that if they would do this their days would be long in the land. Let me give you some history about this family:
o This Rechab went into Samaria with Jehu and destroyed the temple of Baal where Ahab and Jezebel worshipped.
o One of Rechab’s sons, Malchiah, repaired the dung gate in the restoration of Jerusalem under Nehemiah.
o Because they obeyed their Godly father’s words, when all others were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, this family remained in the land.
• God was upset with Judah because here was a family who obeyed their father’s words, but Judah would not obey the Almighty, but ignored and questioned Him.
• Knowing human nature, I am sure there were times when the children of Rechab must have questioned the reasoning behind their family restrictions. They may not have liked what they heard. But what saved them from captivity was that they said, “We may not understand why, we may not like what we hear, but Daddy told us not to do these things and we are not going to do them.”
o They may have been laughed at.
o They may have been ostracized.
o They may have been misunderstood.
But they were not going to disobey Daddy.
Parents, may I say to you that within the Old Testament law and reiterated in the New Testament is this principle: Honor and obey thy parents. Why? That thy days may be long in the land, or upon the earth. Listen! If children are not taught to obey their parents, they will have a mighty hard time learning to obey God.
There are things in this life we need to just take God at His word and obey. It doesn’t matter if we understand at the time, we should just do them. It doesn’t matter if anyone agrees with us, we should just do them. It doesn’t matter if the whole world is going the opposite direction, we should just do them.
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