Jeremiah Chapter 35 verse 2 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - The house of the Rechabites ("house" equivalent to "family"). From a notice in 1 Chronicles 2:55 it appears that the Rechabites were a subdivision of the Kenites, the nomad tribe so closely connected with the Israelites (Judges 1:16; Judges 4:18-22; comp. Numbers 10:29), especially with the tribe of Judah (1 Samuel 27:10; 1 Samuel 30:29). The names of Jonadab and of Jaazaniah and his progenitors (which include the sacred Name), together with the zeal of Jonadab for the worship of Jehovah (2 Kings 10:15, 23), seem to indicate that the religion of the Rechabites approximated closely to that of the Israelites. There seem, in fact, to have been two branches of the Kenites - one having Edomitish, the other Israelitish, affinities. Records of the former still exist in the Sinaitic inscriptions, and in the Arabian histories; indeed, there is still a tribe called Benu-l-Qain (often contracted into Belqein) in the Belqa (the ancient land of Ammon); and it would seem that there is an Arab tribe in Arabia Petraea, eastward of Kerak, which traces itself to Heber the Kenite. and goes by the name of Yehud Chebr, though it now denies any connection with Jews. There were also Jews of Khaibar, near Mecca, who played an important part in the early history of Islam (see further 'Zeitschr. der deutschen morgenland. Gesellschaft,' 8:706; 14:438; 28:568, 571). Into one of the chambers. There were many "chambers" of different sizes attached to the temple, and employed partly for stores, partly for councils and assemblies, partly for guard chambers, and other official purposes (comp. 1 Chronicles 28:12; Ezekiel 40:17). In Jeremiah 36:10 we even find a private person occupying one of the "chambers." That into which Jeremiah conducted the Rechabites was, no doubt, one of the largest size; it was appropriated to the use of a single priestly family - the "sons of Hanan" (ver. 4).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) Go unto the house of the Rechabites . . .--The word "house" is used throughout the chapter in the sense of "family." Among those who had thus taken refuge were the tribe, or sect, or even fraternity known by this name. Their founder was the Jonadab, or Jehonadab, who appears as the ally of Jehu in the overthrow of the house of Ahab (2Kings 10:15). It is clear from that history that he exercised an influence over the people which Jehu was glad to secure, and that he welcomed "the zeal for the Lord" which led Jehu to the massacre of the worshippers of Baal. He is described as the "son of Rechab," but seeing that that name, which means "chariot," was applied to the great Tishbite prophet, as in "the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof" (2Kings 2:12), it has been thought, with some probability, that the name "son of Rechab" means "Son of the chariot" (so in later Jewish history we have Bar-cochba = son of the star), i.e., "disciple of the great prophet." Anyhow, the life which Jonadab enforced on his followers presented all the characteristic features of that of Elijah. It was a protest against the Baal-worship that had flowed into Israel from Phoenicia, against the corruption of the life of cities, against the intemperance which was tainting the life of Israel (Amos 6:4-6). It reminds us in this respect of the more ascetic sects, such as the Wahabees of Arabia in the eighteenth century (see Burckhardt's Bedouins and Wahabys, p. 283; Palgrave's Arabia), that have at times arisen among the followers of Mahomet. It has some points of resemblance to the Mendicant Orders of mediaeval Christendom. From 1Chronicles 2:55 it appears that "the house of Rechab" belonged to the Kenites who had joined the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt, and had settled in their lands, retaining their old habits (Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11; Numbers 10:29-32; 1Samuel 15:6; 1Samuel 27:10). Such a people naturally retained many of the habits of patriarchal life, and it is not improbable that Elijah himself issued from their tents. . . .