Chapter 35
Still reading about the time before Judah's fall.
Starts by letting us know this word is from the Lord to Jeremiah. Then a time stamp that it was in Jehoiakim's time. So we've moved backward in time about 10 years. Maybe less, 10 at most.
Rechabites brought to the Temple. These were, per MSB, descended from Moses father-in-law. Kenites? There is more information in the note there, including a guess that we went back in time for "thematic" purposes. Perhaps to contrast the slavery behavior in the last chapter with this.
Jeremiah offers them wine, as God had said, but they refuse to drink, citing the rules of Jonadab, the son of Rechab. They were not to sow, not to build houses, and so on. They were strangers in Israel, and were to live in tents forever - of their own choosing. They had moved into Jerusalem when Neb laid siege to Jerusalem the first time - the time he carried off captives, but didn't burn the place down. So instead of being nomadic, they were in Jerusalem.
Here is a little side note from vs 11:
11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, 'Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians.' So we are living in Jerusalem." [Jer 35:11 ESV] It seems that Syria had some kind of alliance with Babylon at this time. I don't remember seeing that before.
God speaks again beginning in vs 12. Jeremiah is to hold up the Rechabites as examples of those who follow the commands of their father, in this case by not drinking any wine at all. I think the point was that these people and their customs go well back in time, almost as far back as the Sinai covenant. And they have kept it because their "father" told them to keep it. Israel was commanded by God, and they have not kept His commands. Perhaps Israel was saying that it was impossible to keep God's commandments, or perhaps they were saying that times had changed, and it was no longer necessary to keep God's commands because they were no longer a nomadic nation wandering in a wilderness, but a might nation, established, and with their own government and their own man made commandments. God was not longer really necessary to them. here are the verses:
8 We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, 9 and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, 10 but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us. [Jer 35:8-10 ESV]
And here is the application:
13 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the LORD. 14 The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me. [Jer 35:13-14 ESV]
But Judah and Jerusalem will not listen to the commandments of God. Because they have not listened, disaster is coming upon them. Here is the verse, the very long, Jeremiah verse:
17 Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have called to them and they have not answered." [Jer 35:17 ESV]
God is pointing out His patience, His longsuffering, His willingness to forgive, even after repeated insults and rebellion. He forbears and puts off the punishment of nations in time...because time is all nations have. People have eternity, nations only have time. But here is yet one more justification from God for what is about to happen to Jerusalem. It is NOT impossible to follow God according to His standards. It is impossible to achieve perfection, but God only wants hearts, not perfection.
For their faithfulness to Jonadab's rules, God promises that the Rechabites will always have a man to stand before God. I believe that means their will always be male descendants of this clan.
Possible FB post from 10/12/20.